Examining immune-inflammatory mechanisms of probiotic supplementation in depression: secondary findings from a randomized clinical trial.

We recently indicated that four-week probiotic supplementation significantly reduced depression along with microbial and neural changes in people with depression. Here we further elucidated the biological modes of action underlying the beneficial clinical effects of probiotics by focusing on immune-inflammatory processes. The analysis included a total of N = 43 participants with depression, from which N = 19 received the probiotic supplement and N = 24 received a placebo over four weeks, in addition to treatment as usual.

Effect of short-term, high-dose probiotic supplementation on cognition, related brain functions and BDNF in patients with depression: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: In major depressive disorder (MDD), cognitive dysfunctions strongly contribute to functional impairments but are barely addressed in current therapies. Novel treatment strategies addressing cognitive symptoms in depression are needed. As the gut microbiota-brain axis is linked to depression and cognition, we investigated the effect of a 4-week high-dose probiotic supplementation on cognitive symptoms in depression.

Effects of a probiotic add-on treatment on fronto-limbic brain structure, function, and perfusion in depression: Secondary neuroimaging findings of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Probiotics are suggested to improve depressive symptoms via the microbiota-gut-brain axis. We have recently shown a beneficial clinical effect of probiotic supplementation in patients with depression. Their underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown.

Clinical, gut microbial and neural effects of a probiotic add-on therapy in depressed patients: a randomized controlled trial.

A promising new treatment approach for major depressive disorder (MDD) targets the microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) axis, which is linked to physiological and behavioral functions affected in MDD. This is the first randomized controlled trial to determine whether short-term, high-dose probiotic supplementation reduces depressive symptoms along with gut microbial and neural changes in depressed patients. Patients with current depressive episodes took either a multi-strain probiotic supplement or placebo over 31 days additionally to treatment-as-usual.

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) as an Adjunctive Therapy for Depression-Case Report.

Depression is a debilitating disorder, and at least one third of patients do not respond to therapy. Associations between gut microbiota and depression have been observed in recent years, opening novel treatment avenues. Here, we present the first two patients with major depressive disorder ever treated with fecal microbiota transplantation as add-on therapy.

Neural mapping of anhedonia across psychiatric diagnoses: A transdiagnostic neuroimaging analysis.

Anhedonia has been associated with abnormal reward-related striatal dopamine functioning in patients with different psychiatric disorders. Here, we tested whether anhedonia expression mapped onto striatal volume across several psychiatric diagnoses. T1-weighted images from 313 participants including 89 healthy controls (HC), 22 patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), 50 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), 45 patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), 49 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP), 43 patients with cocaine use disorder (CUD) and 15 patients with schizophrenia (SZ) were included.