Background
Poststroke depression (PSD) is the most frequent neuropsychiatric consequence of stroke. Electroacupuncture (EA) has been found to be an effective therapy for treating PSD. However, the underlying mechanisms of EA’s efficacy remain unclear. This research aimed to investigate the effects of EA on alterations in gut microbiota and fecal metabolome in PSD rats.
Methods
Analyses of gut microbiome and fecal metabolome were performed to identify gut microbes and their functional metabolites in a sham group, PSD group, and EA group. We conducted enrichment analysis to identify the differential metabolic pathways in three groups. Correlations between altered gut microbes and differential metabolites after EA treatment were studied.
Results
PSD showed decreased species-richness/diversity indices of microbial composition, characterized by an increase in Muribaculaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Oscillospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, and Clostridiaceae and a decrease in Lactobacillaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Bacteroidaceae. Of these, the abundance of Muribaculaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, and Clostridiaceae were reversed by EA. Furthermore, PSD was associated with 34 differential fecal metabolites, mainly belonging to steroid hormone biosynthesis, that could be regulated by EA.
Conclusion
Regulation of gut microbiome and lipid metabolism could be one of the potential mechanisms for EA treatment for alleviating the depressive behaviors of PSD.
BackgroundIt is difficult to conduct the precise diagnosis of post-stroke depression (PSD) in clinical practice due to the complex psychopathology of depressive disorder. Several studies showed that gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-identified urinary metabolite biomarkers could significantly discriminate PSD from stroke survivors.MethodsA systematic review was performed for the keywords of “urinary metabolite” and “PSD” using Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Wanfang, CNKI, CBM, and VIP database from inception to 31 March 2022.ResultsFour related studies were included in the review. Differential urinary metabolites including lactic acid, palmitic acid, azelaic acid, and tyrosine were identified in all the included studies. As a significant deviation in the metabolite biomarker panel, glyceric acid, azelaic acid, phenylalanine, palmitic acid, pseudouridine, and tyrosine were found in at least 2 included studies, which indicated good potential for the differentiation of PSD.ConclusionThe systematic review provided evidence that differential urinary metabolites analyzed by the GC-MS-based approach might be used as a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of PSD.
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