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MICROBIOME

Talking about a microbiome revolution

Nature Microbiology volume 4, pages 552–553 (2019)Cite this article

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Animal studies have strongly implicated the gut microbiome as a key regulator of brain and behaviour. Recent work using two large population cohorts and bioinformatics tools has strengthened the link between microbial disturbances and depression (or quality of life in general).

It has been over 30 years since the singer Tracy Chapman first sang about fast cars and revolutions, and in that time, there have been limited advances in the development of novel treatment strategies for major depression. Recent studies in animal models have indicated that the gut microbiome plays a role in brain development, stress sensitivity and behaviours relevant to depression and anxiety1. This has significantly altered our conceptualization of brain health, but there remains much healthy scepticism in the field as to whether such findings in animals have any implications for human mental health. Indeed, investigations of altered microbiota composition in human depression have been restricted to a few, relatively underpowered studies, with no clear consensus emerging from them2,3,4,5. However, it has been shown that transferring such altered microbiomes to either germ-free or antibiotic-treated animals can induce depression-like phenotypes in rodent models, bolstering a potential causal link between such microbiota changes and depression3,5. In tandem, the mechanisms as to how the gut microbiome communicates with the brain are being slowly resolved, including through the vagus nerve, immune system, enteric nervous system, enteroendocrine signalling and production of microbial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids6. Indeed, an increasing emphasis is placed on the potential of the microbiome to produce chemicals with neuroactive potential that may influence gut–brain signalling, either directly or indirectly7.

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Fig. 1: Mining mood microorganisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    John F. Cryan & Timothy G. Dinan

  2. Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    John F. Cryan

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioural Science, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Timothy G. Dinan

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  1. John F. Cryan
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  2. Timothy G. Dinan
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Correspondence to John F. Cryan.

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Competing interests

J.F.C. and T.G.D. received research funding from Dupont Nutrition, Cremo SA, Alkermes Inc., 4D Pharma PLC, Mead Johnson Nutrition and Nutricia Danone.

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Cryan, J.F., Dinan, T.G. Talking about a microbiome revolution. Nat Microbiol 4, 552–553 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0422-9

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