ArticleMolecular psychiatry2023
Gut microbiota changes require vagus nerve integrity to promote depressive-like behaviors in mice.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 101 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
101 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 139 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ginseng Bioactive Components as Gut-Brain Axis-Targeted Modulators: Therapeutic Potential and Mechanisms in Multifactorial Diseases.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- The putative role of the microbiota in the development of neuropsychiatric disorders following early childhood malnutrition.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Vagal sensing of altered gut microbiota links to externalizing behaviors.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- The Gut Microbiota-Epilepsy Axis: Bibliometric Trends, Mechanistic Insights, and Microbiota-Targeted Next-Generation Therapeutic Opportunities.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- The Adolescent Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis: Development, Mechanisms, and Translational Perspectives.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Activation of peripheral muscarinic receptors rescues depressive-like behaviors via gut-brain-axis, involving parasympathetic excitation.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Exercise-Mediated Molecular Mechanisms of Antidepressant Effects: The Role of the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Unveiling the enigma of anxiety disorders and depression: from pathogenesis to treatment.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Aspirin alleviates long-term high-fat diet-induced depressive-like behavior in male mice via suppressing arachidonic acid-mediated microglial activation and neuroinflammation.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- From Iron to Depression: The Crosstalk Between the Periphery and Brain.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Short-chain fatty acid-producing psychobiotics in mood disorders: mechanistic insights into the microbiota-gut-brain axis.Clinical nutrition research · 2026Article
- Fecal Microbiota Transplantation From Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder Is Associated With General Anxiety-Like Behavior and Gut Microbiota Alterations in Mice.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Electroacupuncture prevents CUMS induced depressive-like behaviors by inhibiting microglia-mediated synaptic pruning induced by gut dysbiosis.Chinese medicine · 2026Article
- Tryptophan-kynurenine metabolic reprogramming along the gut-brain axis alleviates Alzheimer's pathology.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Current Perspectives on the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Pathogenesis of Microbiota and the Gut-Brain Axis, and Emerging Therapeutics.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Voluntary wheel running exercise attenuates VPA-induced ASD-like behaviors in male rats: implication of the vagal pathway of the gut-brain axis.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- A human-derived Bacteroides strain attenuates depressive-like behavior in a rat model of social defeat-induced stress.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Colitis-associated gut-vagus-brain signaling integrates tumorigenesis and neuroinflammation: comparative regulation by vagotomy and atropine.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Depression: Pathological Correlations, Molecular Pathways, and Therapeutic Interventions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Field Stimulation Improves Weight and Other Anthropometric Outcomes in Children and Adolescents With Functional Dyspepsia Who Restrict Their Oral Intake.Neurogastroenterology and motility · 2026Article
41 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic stress constitutes a major risk factor for depression that can disrupt various aspects of homeostasis, including the gut microbiome (GM). We have recently shown that GM imbalance affects adult hippocampal (HPC) neurogenesis and induces depression-like behaviors, with the exact mechanisms being under active investigation. Here we hypothesized that the vagus nerve (VN), a key bidirectional route of communication between the gut and the brain, could relay the effects of stress-induced GM changes on HPC plasticity and behavior. We used fecal samples derived from mice that sustained unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) to inoculate healthy mice and assess standard behavioral readouts for anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, conduct histological and molecular analyses for adult HPC neurogenesis and evaluate neurotransmission pathways and neuroinflammation. To study the potential role of the VN in mediating the effects of GM changes on brain functions and behavior, we used mice that sustained subdiaphragmatic vagotomy (Vx) prior the GM transfer. We found that inoculation of healthy mice with GM from UCMS mice activates the VN and induces early and sustained changes in both serotonin and dopamine neurotransmission pathways in the brainstem and HPC. These changes are associated with prompt and persistent deficits in adult HPC neurogenesis and induce early and sustained neuroinflammatory responses in the HPC. Remarkably, Vx abrogates adult HPC neurogenesis deficits, neuroinflammation and depressive-like behavior, suggesting that vagal afferent pathways are necessary to drive GM-mediated effects on the brain.
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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.