Psychobiotics: potential alternatives to conventional anxiolytics?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i4.14102

Keywords:

Probiotics; Anxiety; Psychopharmacology.

Abstract

Understanding that in the last decades psychobiotics, a new class of probiotics, have directed many researchers to focus on studying them in relation to their therapeutic potential for psychic disorders, the present study compiled data from the scientific literature regarding recent discoveries related to psychobiotics as a potential alternative for the treatment of anxiety. For this purpose, an integrative literature review was carried out, through consultations to articles published in the last six years through the PubMed/MEDLINE and SciELO databases, using the following descriptors: "Probiotics and anxiety","Psycobiotcs and anxiety", published in full in English. A total of 267 studies were found, of which merely 14 articles were eligible. At first, the benefits generated by psychobiotics for mental health were discussed, as well as their importance in understanding of the mechanisms involved in the brain-microbiome- intestine axis relationship for psychological disorders, especially anxiety. Through the analysis of selected pre-clinical and clinical studies, it was possible to identify strains of probiotics that have greater potential for psychobiotic candidates, with an emphasis on the treatment of anxiety. In general, studies have shown the effectiveness of psychobiotics, which were able to mitigate the symptoms caused by anxiety disorders, improving central nervous system functions, with low occurrence or absence of adverse effects. Thus, in the future, they can compose a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of anxiety symptoms and other psychiatric comorbidities.

References

Azpiroz, F., Dubray, C., Bernalier-Donadille, A., Cardot, J. M., Accarino, A., Serra, J., Wagner, A., Respondek, F., & Dapoigny, M. (2017). Effects of scFOS on the composition of fecal microbiota and anxiety in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study. Neurogastroenterology and motility : the official journal of the European Gastrointestinal Motility Society, 29(2), 10.1111/nmo.12911.https://doi.org/10.1111/nmo.12911

Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 93–107. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/bbandelow

Barros-Santos, T., Silva, K., Libarino-Santos, M., Elisangela Gouveia Cata-Preta, Reis, H. S., Tamura, E. K., de Oliveira-Lima, A. J., Berro, L. F., Uetanabaro, A., & Marinho, E. (2020). Effects of chronic treatment with new strains of Lactobacillus plantarum on cognitive, anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in male mice. PloS one, 15(6), e0234037.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234037

Butler, M. I., Mörkl, S., Sandhu, K. V., Cryan, J. F., & Dinan, T. G. (2019). The Gut Microbiome and Mental Health: What Should We Tell Our Patients?: Le microbiote Intestinal et la Santé Mentale : que Devrions-Nous dire à nos Patients?. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 64(11), 747–760.https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743719874168

Ceppa, F., Mancini, A., & Tuohy, K. (2019). Current evidence linking diet to gut microbiota and brain development and function. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 70(1), 1–19.https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2018.1462309

Cheng, L. H., Liu, Y. W., Wu, C. C., Wang, S., & Tsai, Y. C. (2019). Psychobiotics in mental health, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. Journal of food and drug analysis, 27(3), 632–648.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfda.2019.01.002

Colica, C., Avolio, E., Bollero, P., Costa de Miranda, R., Ferraro, S., Sinibaldi Salimei, P., De Lorenzo, A., & Di Renzo, L. (2017). Evidences of a New Psychobiotic Formulation on Body Composition and Anxiety. Mediators of inflammation, 2017, 5650627.https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5650627

De Lorenzo, A., Costacurta, M., Merra, G., Gualtieri, P., Cioccoloni, G., Marchetti, M., Varvaras, D., Docimo, R., & Di Renzo, L. (2017). Can psychobiotics intake modulate psychological profile and body composition of women affected by normal weight obese syndrome and obesity? A double blind randomized clinical trial. Journal of translational medicine, 15(1), 135.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-017-1236-2

Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders: Global Health Estimates. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/WHO-MSD-MER-2017.2-eng.pdf;jsessionid=8B95B2C4E7EB2D420509793E86742BD3?sequence=1

Dickerson, F., Adamos, M., Katsafanas, E., Khushalani, S., Origoni, A., Savage, C., Schweinfurth, L., Stallings, C., Sweeney, K., Goga, J., & Yolken, R. H. (2018). Adjunctive probiotic microorganisms to prevent rehospitalization in patients with acute mania: A randomized controlled trial. Bipolar disorders, 20(7), 614–621.https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.12652

Foster, J. A., Rinaman, L., & Cryan, J. F. (2017). Stress & the gut-brain axis: Regulation by the microbiome. Neurobiology of stress, 7, 124–136.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2017.03.001

Gualtieri, P., Marchetti, M., Cioccoloni, G., De Lorenzo, A., Romano, L., Cammarano, A., Colica, C., Condò, R., & Di Renzo, L. (2020). Psychobiotics Regulate the Anxiety Symptoms in Carriers of Allele A of IL-1β Gene: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. Mediators of inflammation, 2020, 2346126.https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/2346126

Hao, Z., Wang, W., Guo, R., & Liu, H. (2019). Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (ATCC 27766) has preventive and therapeutic effects on chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression-like and anxiety-like behavior in rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 104, 132–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.02.025

He, Z. H., Li, M. D., Liu, C. J., & Ma, X. Y. (2021). Relationship between body image, anxiety, food-specific inhibitory control, and emotional eating in young women with abdominal obesity: a comparative cross-sectional study. Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 79(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00526-2

Herman A. (2019). Probiotics supplementation in prophylaxis and treatment of depressive and anxiety disorders - a review of current research. Zastosowanie suplementacji probiotykami w profilaktyce i leczeniu zaburzeń depresyjnych i lękowych – przegląd dotychczasowych badań. Psychiatria polska, 53(2), 459–473.https://doi.org/10.12740/PP/92392

Liu, R. T., Walsh, R., & Sheehan, A. E. (2019). Prebiotics and probiotics for depression and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 102, 13–23.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.023

Liu, Y. W., Liu, W. H., Wu, C. C., Juan, Y. C., Wu, Y. C., Tsai, H. P., Wang, S., & Tsai, Y. C. (2016). Psychotropic effects of Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 in early life-stressed and naïve adult mice. Brain research, 1631, 1–12.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2015.11.018

Mangolini, V. I., Andrade, L. H., Lotufo-Neto, F., & Wang, Y. P. (2019). Treatment of anxiety disorders in clinical practice: a critical overview of recent systematic evidence. Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 74, e1316.https://doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2019/e1316

Nash, K., Leota, J., & Tran, A. (2021). Neural processes in antecedent anxiety modulate risk-taking behavior. Scientific reports, 11(1), 2637.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82229-w

Peirce, J. M., & Alviña, K. (2019). The role of inflammation and the gut microbiome in depression and anxiety. Journal of neuroscience research, 97(10), 1223–1241.https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24476

Sharma, R., Gupta, D., Mehrotra, R., & Mago, P. (2021). Psychobiotics: The Next-Generation Probiotics for the Brain. Current microbiology, 78(2), 449–463.https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02289-5

Slee, A., Nazareth, I., Bondaronek, P., Liu, Y., Cheng, Z., & Freemantle, N. (2019). Pharmacological treatments for generalised anxiety disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet (London, England), 393(10173), 768–777.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31793-8

Smith, K. S., Greene, M. W., Babu, J. R., & Frugé, A. D. (2019). Psychobiotics as treatment for anxiety, depression, and related symptoms: a systematic review. Nutritional neuroscience, 1–15. Advance online publication.https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2019.1701220

Souza, M. T.; Silva, M. D.; Carvalho, R. Revisão integrativa: o que é e como fazer. Einstein, v. 8, p. 102-106, 2010.

Steenbergen, L., Sellaro, R., van Hemert, S., Bosch, J. A., & Colzato, L. S. (2015). A randomized controlled trial to test the effect of multispecies probiotics on cognitive reactivity to sad mood. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 48, 258–264.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2015.04.003

Yang, X. Y., Yang, N. B., Huang, F. F., Ren, S., & Li, Z. J. (2021). Effectiveness of acupuncture on anxiety disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Annals of general psychiatry, 20(1), 9.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-021-00327-5

Yunes, R. A., Poluektova, E. U., Vasileva, E. V., Odorskaya, M. V., Marsova, M. V., Kovalev, G. I., & Danilenko, V. N. (2020). A Multi-strain Potential Probiotic Formulation of GABA-Producing Lactobacillus plantarum 90sk and Bifidobacterium adolescentis 150 with Antidepressant Effects. Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins, 12(3), 973–979. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-019-09601-1

Published

13/04/2021

How to Cite

SILVA, K. C. J. da .; BRITO, M. G. J. P. de .; LIMA, A. A. de; VIANA, M. D. M. Psychobiotics: potential alternatives to conventional anxiolytics?. Research, Society and Development, [S. l.], v. 10, n. 4, p. e40810414102, 2021. DOI: 10.33448/rsd-v10i4.14102. Disponível em: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/14102. Acesso em: 25 apr. 2024.

Issue

Section

Health Sciences