Fecal Microbiota Changes in Patients With Postpartum Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Postpartum depressive disorder (PPD) is a unique subtype of major depressive disorder and a substantial contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality. However, the pathogenesis of PPD has still remained elusive, and it may associate with genetic and environmental factors. Gut microbiota has already been proved to be associated with depression; however, a limited number of studies have concentrated on PPD. The present study aimed to explore the potential correlations between gut microbiota and PPD. In this study, 57 participants were enrolled, in which fecal samples of 28 patients with PPD and 16 healthy controls (HCs) were collected and then analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. The results showed that diversity and composition of gut microbial communities were partly different between PPD patients and HCs. The relative abundance of Firmicutes phyla was lower in PPD patients. The levels of several predominant genera were significantly different between PPD patients and HCs. More importantly, the PPD patients experienced reduced levels of Faecalibacterium, Phascolarctobacterium, Butyricicoccus , and Lachnospiraceae , as well as increased levels of Enterobacteriaceae family. In addition, a correlation was observed between levels of Phascolarctobacterium, Lachnospiraceae, Faecalibacterium , and Tyzzerella.3 and the severity of depressive symptoms. Various kinds of bacteria, such as Lachnospiraceae and Faecalibacterium , were found to be associated with levels of sex hormones. This study indicated the correlation between gut microbiota and PPD, and gut microbiota-based biomarkers may be helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of PPD patients. However, further studies need to be conducted to clarify the cause–effect relationship between PPD patients and gut microbiota and to highlight the suitability of gut microbiome as a biomarker.

919 Syrup Alleviates Postpartum Depression by Modulating the Structure and Metabolism of Gut Microbes and Affecting the Function of the Hippocampal GABA/Glutamate System

“…Chinese medicine is ineffective in sterile animals, which suggests that its function relies on interactions with microflora ( Kato et al., 2007 ). In a previous work on postpartum depression by our group, we found that postpartum depression is associated with intestinal microflora disorders in both humans ( Zhou et al., 2020 ) and rats ( Ramsteijn et al., 2020 ).…”

Gut Microbiota-Related Inflammation Factors as a Potential Biomarker for Diagnosing Major Depressive Disorder

“…In this study, these differential OTUs mainly belonged to families under Firmicutes (Lachnospiraceae, 8 OTUs; Oscillospiraceae, 6 OTUs; Ruminococcaceae, 6 OTUs) and families under Bacteroidota (Bacteroidaceae, 4 OTUs; and Rikenellaceae, 3 OTUs). Previous studies have found that the abundances of Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae and Bacteroidaceae were changed in both depressed mice and patients ( Park et al., 2020 ; Zhou et al., 2020 ; Liu X. et al., 2021 ). Park et al.…”

Differential Gut Microbiota Compositions Related With the Severity of Major Depressive Disorder

“…In our previous work, we found significant differences in gut microbiota compositions between MDD patients and healthy controls (HC) ( Chen et al., 2020 ; Bai et al., 2021 ), and these differences were specifically relative to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia ( Zheng et al., 2019 ; Zheng et al., 2020 ). Other researchers also found that some bacterial taxa, such as Flavonifractor and Faecalibacterium , changed in patients with depression ( Coello et al., 2019 ; Zhou et al., 2020 ; Coello et al., 2021 ). Using an animal depression model, we reported that gut microbiota could induce depression-like behaviors by regulating the host’s metabolism ( Zheng et al., 2016 ) and that glycerophospholipid metabolism might be the vital node between microbiota and depression ( Tian et al., 2022 ).…”