Russian scientists have discovered a bacterium that determines depressive disorder

Scientists of the Laboratory of Genetics of Microorganisms of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, while studying the intestinal microbiota of depressed patients, have discovered a bacterium that may become a biomarker for the determination of depressive disorder. This was reported on February 13 to the publication "Gazeta.ru" told the head of the project, senior researcher Olga Averina.

It is noted that the intestinal microflora in addition to affecting intestinal functions also stimulates the development of the central nervous system (CNS) in the perinatal period, interacting with the higher nerve centers. This can cause, among other things, various pathologies: depression and cognitive disorders.

"The work was to identify changes in the composition and functionality of the intestinal microbiota of patients with a clinical form of depression of varying severity in comparison with the microbiota of healthy volunteers to select biomarker compositions of bacterial genes for further development of diagnostic methods and search for antidepressant therapeutic drugs," Averina said.

Thus, when comparing the intestinal microbiota in patients with depression, dysbiotic disorders in the bacterial composition were revealed, including a decrease in the number of beneficial bacteria F. prausnitzii, which are producers of beneficial butyric acid. The scientist noted that this type of bacteria is a biomarker for various inflammatory bowel diseases.

"In our studies, it also proved to be a biomarker for depressive conditions. Our selected oligonucleotides (a short DNA or RNA fragment) to the biomarker genes of F. prausnitzii have been tested with positive results and can be recommended for the development of diagnosticums for analyzing fecal DNA of patients with depression for use in medical practice," she said and added that the development of such diagnosticums is planned in the future.

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Earlier, on January 13, Gemotest Laboratory expert Ekaterina Demyanovskaya, a neurologist, told Izvestia about factors contributing to the development of depression. According to her, genetic predisposition, chronic stress, poor nutrition, lack of sunlight, organic brain lesions and hormonal fluctuations contribute to the development of depression.