Gut Microbiome Diversity and Abundance Correlate with Gray Matter Volume (GMV) in Older Adults with Depression

Sungeun Melanie Lee, Michaela M. Milillo, Beatrix Krause-Sorio, Prabha Siddarth, Lisa Kilpatrick, Katherine L. Narr, Jonathan P. Jacobs and Helen Lavretsky
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Sungeun Melanie Lee: Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Michaela M. Milillo: Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Beatrix Krause-Sorio: Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Prabha Siddarth: Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Lisa Kilpatrick: Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Katherine L. Narr: Brain Research Institute, 635 Charles E Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Jonathan P. Jacobs: UCLA Microbiome Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Helen Lavretsky: Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Growing evidence supports the concept that bidirectional brain–gut microbiome interactions play an important mechanistic role in aging, as well as in various neuropsychiatric conditions including depression. Gray matter volume (GMV) deficits in limbic regions are widely observed in geriatric depression (GD). We therefore aimed to explore correlations between gut microbial measures and GMV within these regions in GD. Sixteen older adults (>60 years) with GD (37.5% female; mean age, 70.6 (SD = 5.7) years) were included in the study and underwent high-resolution T1-weighted structural MRI scanning and stool sample collection. GMV was extracted from bilateral regions of interest (ROI: hippocampus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens) and a control region (pericalcarine). Fecal microbiota composition and diversity were assessed by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. There were significant positive associations between alpha diversity measures and GMV in both hippocampus and nucleus accumbens. Additionally, significant positive associations were present between hippocampal GMV and the abundance of genera Family_XIII_AD3011_group, unclassified Ruminococcaceae, and Oscillibacter, as well as between amygdala GMV and the genera Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Oscillibacter. Gut microbiome may reflect brain health in geriatric depression. Future studies with larger samples and the experimental manipulation of gut microbiome may clarify the relationship between microbiome measures and neuroplasticity.

Keywords: gray matter volume (GMV); gut–brain axis; geriatric depression (GD) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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