Hanus Beatric
An intriguing topic that has captured the interest of many scientists is the mind-gut interaction. Ongoing studies show that microbiome residing within the gastrointestinal tract seem to be interwoven with our mental health through its ability to modify behavioral and cognitive brain activities. Gut microbiome is present from early stages of life, but continues to be affected by genetics as well as epigenetics as we grow. Upon disturbance, the microbiome can pertain to different chronic illnesses ranging from type 2 diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease and depression. Certain intestinal bacterial strains are found to be either depleted or augmented in depressed individuals. Evidence based studies demonstrating bacterial phyla correlated with depression will be explored in this paper. In addition, recent therapeutic implications are going to be discussed asthere are several treatments present.
