ArticleFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience2019
Role of Tryptophan in Microbiota-Induced Depressive-Like Behavior: Evidence From Tryptophan Depletion Study.
Article in Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- Compositional and Functional Alterations in Intestinal Microbiota in Patients with Psychosis or Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Role of Bacteria and Its Derived Metabolites in Chronic Pain and Depression: Recent Findings and Research Progress.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Pooled it
- Strain-resolved metabolomic chemotyping identifies tryptophan and γ-glutamyl peptides as MGO-AGEs breaking postbiotic compounds for carbonyl stress mitigation.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Bidirectional communication between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- A Chrono-Metabolic Approach to Mental Health: Current Perspectives on Circadian Rhythms, Gut Microbiota, and Microbial Metabolites in Mood Disorders.Metabolites · 2026Review
- Tryptophan metabolism: a critical bridge linking gut microbiota to depression.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Article
- Longitudinal associations between the infant gut microbiome and negative affect in toddlerhood.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Gut Microbiome, Diet and Depression: Literature Review of Microbiological, Nutritional and Neuroscientific Aspects.Current nutrition reports · 2025Review
- Antidepressive and anxiolytic effects of a combination of Saffron and Chamomile in rats and their relationship with serotonin using methods.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025Article
- Plasma and Visceral Organ Kynurenine Metabolites Correlate in the Multiple Sclerosis Cuprizone Animal Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- A comprehensive overview of the effects of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics on the gut-brain axis.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Exploring gut microbiota and spinal cord injury: pathogenesis, treatment strategies and prospects.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- From Gut Microbiomes to Infectious Pathogens: Neurological Disease Game Changers.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Depression like-behavior and memory loss induced by methylglyoxal is associated with tryptophan depletion and oxidative stress: a new in vivo model of neurodegeneration.Biological research · 2024Article
- Bifidobacteria with indole-3-lactic acid-producing capacity exhibit psychobiotic potential via reducing neuroinflammation.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- Microbiota alterations are related to migraine food triggers and inflammatory markers in chronic migraine patients with medication overuse headache.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Article
- Microbiota-gut-brain axis in health and neurological disease: Interactions between gut microbiota and the nervous system.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2024Review
- Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet-microbiota-gut-brain axis.Nature metabolism · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the past decade, there has been a substantial rise in the knowledge about the effects of gut microbiota on host physiology and behavior, including depressive behavior. Initial studies determined that gut microbiota can regulate host tryptophan levels, which is a main serotonin precursor. A dysfunctional serotonergic system is considered to be one of the main factors contributing to the development of depression. Therefore, we hypothesized that regulation of brain tryptophan and serotonin can explain, at least partly, the effects of microbiota on depressive behavior. To test this hypothesis, we examined depressive-like behavior and brain levels of serotonin and tryptophan, of germ free (GF) and specific-pathogen free (SPF) mice under basal conditions, or after acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) procedure, which is a method to decrease tryptophan and serotonin levels in the brain. In basal conditions, GF mice exhibited less depressive-like behavior in sucrose preference, tail-suspension and forced swim tests, compared to SPF mice. In addition, in mice that were not subjected to ATD, GF mice displayed higher levels of tryptophan, serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (the main degradation product of serotonin) in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus (HIPPO), compared to SPF mice. Interestingly, ATD increased depressive-like behavior of GF, but not of SPF mice. These behavioral changes were accompanied by a stronger reduction of tryptophan, serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in mPFC and HIPPO in GF mice after ATD, when compared to SPF mice. Therefore, the serotonergic system of GF mice is more vulnerable to the acute challenge of tryptophan reduction, and GF mice after tryptophan reduction behave more similarly to SPF mice. These data provide functional evidence that microbiota affects depression-like behavior through influencing brain tryptophan accessibility and the serotonergic system.
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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.