Similarly in depression, nuances of gut microbiota: Evidences from a shotgun metagenomics sequencing study on major depressive disorder versus bipolar disorder with current major depressive episode patientsOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Gut microbiota composition was compared across 31 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), 30 patients with bipolar disorder in a current depressive episode (BPD), and 30 healthy controls.
How was it studied?
Fecal samples from all participants underwent shotgun metagenomics sequencing. The authors assessed alpha diversity and introduced a new metric, the Gm coefficient, to measure inequality in microbial relative abundances.
What did they find?
Gm coefficients were significantly decreased in both MDD and BPD groups. Firmicutes and Actinobacteria were increased and Bacteroidetes decreased in both patient groups versus controls, with Bacteroides, Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, Oscillibacter, and Streptococcus enriched at the genus level. Escherichia and Klebsiella differed only between BPD and controls, while MDD patients showed higher Prevotellaceae species than BPD patients, and BPD patients showed higher Fusobacteriaceae, Escherichia blattae, and Klebsiella oxytoca but lower Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis than MDD patients.
Why it matters
The findings suggest gut microbiota alterations may contribute to the pathogenesis of both MDD and BPD, and that specific taxonomic differences between the two disorders could serve as distinguishing biomarkers.