Influence of early life stress on depression: from the perspective of neuroendocrine to the participation of gut microbiota

Abstract

Depression is the most common mental disorder and has become a heavy burden in modern society. Clinical studies have identified early life stress as one of the high-risk factors for increased susceptibility to depression. Alteration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to stress is one of the key risk factors for depression susceptibility related to early life stress. Laboratory animal studies have demonstrated that maternal separation (MS) for extended periods elicits HPA axis changes. These changes persist into adulthood and resemble those present in depressed adult individuals, including hyperactivity of the HPA axis. In addition, there is growing evidence that inflammation plays an important role in depression susceptibility concerned with early life stress. Individuals that have experienced MS have higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and are susceptible to depression. Recently, it has been found that the gut microbiota plays an important role in regulating behavior and is also associated with depression. The translocation of gut microbiota and the change of gut microbiota composition caused by early stress may be a reason. In this review, we discussed the mechanisms by which early life stress contributes to the development of depression in terms of these factors. These studies have facilitated a systematic understanding of the pathogenesis of depression related to early life stress and will provide new ideas for the prevention and treatment of depression.

RNA in extracellular vesicles during adolescence reveal immune, energetic and microbial imprints of early life adversity

“…Therefore, the unique signatures of microbiome that we observe in CONT and MALT EVs could be a fingerprint of the CONT- and MALT-specific maternal vaginal microbiome that the infant had been exposed to at the time of vaginal birth. Second, another consequence of maltreatment is the development of a leaky gut (Camilleri & Gorman, 2007; Maes et al, 2012; Pohl et al, 2017; Tan et al, 2021). This dimension of digestive biology could result in differential nutrition for bacterial and viral fauna and perturb the balance of the microbiome from “steady state” CONT levels.…”

The molecular pathophysiology of depression and the new therapeutics

“…Stress and acute challenges are factors contributing to MDD onset 60 . It has long been recognized that the HPA axis plays an key role in mammals stress response.…”

“…Stress and acute challenges are factors contributing to MDD onset. 60 It has long been recognized that the HPA axis plays an key role in mammals stress response. Therefore, changes in the HPA axis during depressive illness may reflect the influence of stress and determine the manifestations of depressive symptoms.…”

Intrinsic brain abnormalities in female major depressive disorder patients with childhood trauma: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

“…Women also have more complex patterns of childhood trauma ( Haahr-Pedersen et al, 2020 ), and the female sex also plays a synergistic role with childhood trauma in certain mental disorders (e.g., anxiety and depressive episodes) ( Whitaker et al, 2021 ). Previous studies of childhood trauma have focused on neuroendocrinology ( Silva et al, 2021 ; Tan et al, 2021 ), neuroinflammation ( Andersen, 2022 ), and neuroimaging ( Tozzi et al, 2020 ; Ma et al, 2021 ) to analyze the intrinsic biological mechanisms of MDD. However, trauma-related brain dysfunction is not fully understood.…”