ArticleMetabolites2024
Metabolic Alterations of Short-Chain Organic Acids in the Elderly Link Antibiotic Exposure with the Risk for Depression.
Article in Metabolites, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Circulating Short-Chain Fatty Acid (SCFA) profiles as a biomarker of gut-brain axis dysfunction: A meta-analysis for the SCFA signature in major depression.Biomedical journal · 2026Pooled it
- The hidden cost of antibiotics: microbial dysbiosis-induced SCFA imbalance and its underlying mechanisms.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOur previous study showed that antibiotic exposure was linked to depressive symptomatology in community-dwelling older adults in China. Our current study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms by assessing the intermediated effects of circulating short-chain organic acids (SCOAs) on this association.
methodsDepressive symptoms were screened by the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30). Urinary concentrations of antibiotics and serum SCOAs were measured using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method.
resultsIncreased exposure to sulfadiazine, azithromycin, tetracyclines, or veterinary antibiotics (VAs) was positively associated with GDS-30 scores. Tetracycline reduced levels of caproic acid, iso-butyric acid, and iso-caproic acid (iso-CA), with iso-CA concentration inversely correlating with GDS-30 scores, while β-hydroxybutyric acids showed a positive correlation. The mediating effect of serum iso-CA on the association between depression and ofloxacin, with a mediating effect of 25.3%, and the association between depression and tetracycline, with a mediating effect of 46.3%, were both statistically significant, indicating partial mediation.
conclusionsAntibiotics may affect the levels of SCOAs in older adults and could potentially contribute to depressive symptoms by influencing alterations in serum iso-CA levels.
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Registered trials
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