Gut bacteria behind anxious feelings?

New Delhi: Stop relying on antidepressants and other medicines for anxiety as a recent study has found that gut bacteria plays a vital role in anxious feelings.

A team of scientists has found that certain gene regulators in the brain called microRNAs - play a key roll in anxiety-type illness and behaviour, which are affected by bacteria levels in the gut.

Researchers from the University College Cork in Republic of Ireland found that a significant number of miRNAs were changed in the brains of microbe-free mice.

These mice are reared in a germ-free bubble, typically displaying abnormal anxiety, deficits in sociability and cognition and increased depressive-like behaviours.Corresponding author Dr. Gerard Clarke said, "Gut microbes seem to influence miRNAs in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex."

This is important because these miRNAs may affect physiological processes that are fundamental to the functioning of the central nervous system and in brain regions, such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, which are heavily implicated in anxiety and depression," Clarke added.

miRNAs are short sequences of nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA), which can act to control how genes are expressed.

miRNA dysregulation or dysfunction is believed to be an underlying factor contributing to stress-related psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental abnormalities.

The researchers found that levels of 103 miRNAs were different in the amygdala and 31 in the prefrontal cortex of mice reared without gut bacteria (GF mice) compared to conventional mice.

The findings suggest that a healthy microbiome is necessary for appropriate regulation of miRNAs in these brain regions.

(With ANI inputs)