ReviewMolecular psychiatry2020
Updated review of research on the gut microbiota and their relation to depression in animals and human beings.
Review in Molecular psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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
69 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 142 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of the Gut Microbiota in Anorexia Nervosa in Children and Adults-Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Intermittent Fasting as a Potential Therapeutic Instrument for Major Depression Disorder: A Systematic Review of Clinical and Preclinical Studies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Probiotic, Prebiotic, and Synbiotic Supplementation to Improve Perinatal Mental Health in Mothers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of probiotic supplement on improvement of depressive symptoms in patients with substance-induced depressive disorder: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Dynamic changes of intestinal flora in patients with irritable bowel syndrome combined with anxiety and depression after oral administration of enterobacteria capsules.Bioengineered · 2021Trial
- Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Depression: Pathological Correlations, Molecular Pathways, and Therapeutic Interventions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Clinical relevance of loneliness in the treatment of depression: study protocol for a naturalistic prospective longitudinal study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Intestinal Flora Reconfiguration via Electroacupuncture: A Strategy to Counteract Depressive-Like Symptoms in Rats.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Article
- Lactobacillus fermentum ATCC 9338 ameliorates immune dysregulation via indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase through modulating gut microbial diversity of chronic unpredictable mild stressed mouse.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Article
- Alteration of gut microbial ecology by the direct activation of the brain: Inverse gut-microbiome-brain dynamics.iScience · 2025Article
- Microbiota basis of antidepressant effects of Zhi-zi-chi Decoction:Chinese herbal medicines · 2025Article
- An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health.Science advances · 2025Review
- Correlation between depressive-like behavior and gut microbiota in mice with hypothyroidism.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Role of Probiotics in Depression: Connecting Dots of Gut-Brain-Axis Through Hypothalamic-Pituitary Adrenal Axis and Tryptophan/Kynurenic Pathway involving Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Lactobacillus fermentum ATCC 9338 Supplementation Prevents Depressive-Like Behaviors Through Glucocorticoid Receptor and N-Methyl-D-aspartate2b in Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Mouse Model.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Endogenous Ethanol Production in the Human Alimentary Tract: A Literature Review.Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2025Review
- Advances in Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Gut Dysbiosis-Related Diseases.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Microbiome Research in Greece: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Study.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Early-life gut microbiome development and its potential long-term impact on health outcomes.Microbiome research reports · 2025Review
- An update on captive cetacean welfare.PeerJ · 2025Review
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The gut microbiota are being called the human "second brain," as they play a key role in the regulation of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent findings provide strong evidence for the presence of bidirectional communication networks between the gut microbiota and the CNS, and such crosstalk has been correlated with alterations in major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Further, germ-free animal models have been used to investigate the effect of the microbiota on MDD and other psychiatric disorders, which have greatly expanded our knowledge of the role of the microbiota in the etiology of MDD and promoted causality studies of this psychiatric disorder and others as well. In this review, we first introduce the methodological approaches used for microbiota research and then provide an overview of current research progress on the modulatory function and composition of the gut microbiota in MDD and the therapeutic effect of probiotics that has been gained using data from human studies as well as animal experiments. Future research should focus on identification and characterization of specific bacterial strains involved in MDD with the hope of applying these findings in the prevention and treatment of MDD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.