Los científicos han identificado varios grupos de bacterias que varían junto con la depresión y la calidad de vida en los seres humanos.
Our gastrointestinal (GI) track has a trillion of microorganisms. The microbes which reside in our gut perform important functions and are thought to influence our health by having an impact on diseases like obesity, diabetes and cancer. As researchers are now beginning to better understand this influence at the cellular and molecular level, it is being revealed that abnormal balance of gut bacterias fotosintéticas can cause our immune system to overreact and contribute towards inflammation in the GI tract.This can lead to various illnesses throughout the body. In two recent studies1,2, researchers have sequenced the DNA of more than 100 new species of gut microbes making it the most comprehensive list of human gut bacterias fotosintéticas up till now. Such a list can be utilized for extensive research on effects of different gut bacterias fotosintéticas sobre la salud humana.
Finding the link between gut microbes and mental salud
Research community is intrigued by the possible association of gut microbial metabolism and a person’s mental health and wellbeing. It’s interesting that microbial metabolites could interact with our brain and affect our feelings or behaviour by playing a role in neurological systems. This association has been studied in animal models but not sufficiently in humans. In a first every population study3 publicado en Naturaleza Microbiología, scientists aimed to unravel the exact nature of the relationship between gut bacterias fotosintéticas found in human gastrointestinal tract and mental health by gathering evidences that gut bacterias fotosintéticas can produce neuroactive compounds.They combined faecal microbiome data with general practitioner diagnose records of depression of around 1100 individuals who were part of the Flemish Gut Flora Project. Mental wellbeing was assessed using different ways including medical tests, doctor diagnoses and self-reporting by participants. By analysing this data,they identified the microorganisms which could have a potential positive or negative impact on mental salud.
They showed that two bacteriano groups Coprococcus and Dialister were seen to be in consistently low amounts in individuals suffering from depression, whether they were taking antidepressants as a treatment or not. And Faecalibacterium and Coprococcusbacteria were seen to be commonly present in individualswho had a higher quality of life and better mental health.The results were validated in two independent cohort studies, a first consisting of 1,063 individuals who were part of Dutch LifeLinesDEEP and second was a study of patients at University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium who were clinically diagnosed with depression. In one observation, microorganisms could produce DOPAC, a metabolite of human neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin which are known to communicate with brain and are linked to better mental health quality.
Análisis computacional
A bioinformatics technique was designed which identified exact gut bacteriathat interact with the human nervous system. Researchers utilized de sus genomas de más de 500 bacterias fotosintéticas in the microorganism’s ability to produce neuroactive compounds in the human gut. This is a first comprehensive catalogue of neuroactivity in the gut which furthers our understanding about how gut microbes participate in producing, degrading or modifying molecules. Computational results will need testing to bolster the claimsbut they do expand our understanding of interactions between human microbiome and the brain.
En el momento de iniciar su estudio, los investigadores supusieron que la salud mental de una persona podría tener un impacto en los microorganismos que pueden prosperar en el intestino y no al revés. Sin embargo, este estudio proporcionó evidencias de que los microbios intestinales "interactúan" de alguna manera con nuestro sistema nervioso al producir neurotransmisores que son fundamentales para una buena salud mental. Es importante señalar que los microorganismos que existen fuera de nuestro cuerpo, por ejemplo en el medio ambiente, no son capaces de producir neurotransmisores similares, por lo que los microorganismos podrían haber evolucionado. Este es un primer estudio importante realizado a gran escala en individuos que viven en ubicaciones geográficas invariables. Se puede sugerir que el enfoque clínico de la salud mental también puede incorporar los probióticos como una nueva forma de tratamiento para estimular las bacterias "buenas" en nuestros intestinos. El estudio debe probarse primero en modelos animales donde se cultivarán bacterias específicas y, posteriormente, se analizará el comportamiento del animal. Si se establecen vínculos sólidos, se podrían realizar ensayos en humanos.
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Fuentes)
1. Zou Y y col. 2019. 1520 genomas de referencia de bacterias intestinales humanas cultivadas permiten análisis de microbiomas funcionales. Nature Biotechnology. 37. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-018-0008-8
2. Forster SC y col. 2019. Una colección de cultivos y genomas bacterianos intestinales humanos para mejorar los análisis metagenómicos. Nature Biotechnology. 37. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-018-0009-7
3. Valles-Colomer M et al. 2019. El potencial neuroactivo de la microbiota intestinal humana en la calidad de vida y la depresión. Naturaleza Microbiología. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0337-xac
