ReviewCanadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie2016
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Does the Gut Microbiome Hold the Key?
Review in Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut microbiome differences in individuals with PTSD compared to trauma-exposed controls: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Neuroimmune mechanisms in PTSD: inflammatory heterogeneity, circuit dysfunction, and biomarker-based subtypes.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- The Gut-Brain Axis in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: From Biological Mechanisms to Microbiome-Based Therapeutic Strategies-A Narrative Review.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Nutritional Management of Schizophrenia: Gut-Brain Axis Mechanisms and Dietary Interventions.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Review
- The role of gut microbiome in the pathophysiology of PTSD, depression, and anxiety disorders.Gut microbes reports · 2026Review
- Effect of Chronic Social Defeat Stress on the Small-Intestinal Environment, Including the Gut Flora, Immune System, and Mucosal Barrier Integrity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Oral Ketamine as a Treatment for Hyper-Responsiveness and Anxiety in a Female Allen's Swamp Monkey (Allenopithecus nigroviridis).Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Article
- Evidence for the association between psychological stress and peri-implant health among middle-aged and elderly adults: A systemic review.World journal of clinical cases · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiome Alterations, Mental Health, and Alcohol Consumption: Investigating the Gut-Brain Axis in Firefighters.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Gut-brain axis in post-traumatic stress disorder: microbial - mediated mechanisms and new therapeutic approaches - A narrative review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in Crohn's disease patients following surgery: a cross-sectional study.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Gut Microbial Composition Is Associated with Symptom Self-Report in Trauma-Exposed Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans.Neurotrauma reports · 2025Article
- The microbiota-gut-brain axis in mental and neurodegenerative disorders: opportunities for prevention and intervention.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- The gut-brain connection: microbes' influence on mental health and psychological disorders.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2025Review
- A Holistic Approach to Cardiometabolic and Infectious Health in the General Population of Reunion Island: The REUNION Study.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Article
- Microglia-mediated neuroimmune suppression in PTSD is associated with anhedonia.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Article
- Potential causal association between gut microbiome and posttraumatic stress disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Gut bacteria strongly influence our metabolic, endocrine, immune, and both peripheral and central nervous systems. Microbiota do this directly and indirectly through their components, shed and secreted, ranging from fermented and digested dietary and host products to functionally active neurotransmitters including serotonin, dopamine, and γ-aminobutyric acid. Depression has been associated with enhanced levels of proinflammatory biomarkers and abnormal responses to stress. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appears to be marked in addition by low cortisol responses, and these factors seem to predict and predispose individuals to develop PTSD after a traumatic event. Dysregulation of the immune system and of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis observed in PTSD may reflect prior trauma exposure, especially early in life. Early life, including the prenatal period, is a critical time in rodents, and may well be for humans, for the functional and structural development of the immune and nervous systems. These, in turn, are likely shaped and programmed by gut and possibly other bacteria. Recent experimental and clinical data converge on the hypothesis that imbalanced gut microbiota in early life may have long-lasting immune and other physiologic effects that make individuals more susceptible to develop PTSD after a traumatic event and contribute to the disorder. This suggests that it may be possible to target abnormalities in these systems by manipulation of certain gut bacterial communities directly through supplementation or indirectly by dietary and other novel approaches.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.