Background: Gut microbiota can affect human behavior and mood in many ways. Several studies have shown that patients with depression were also accompanied with gut microbiota disorder, in which Firmicutes are related to the protective function of intestinal barrier. In this study, we explore the changes and effects of Firmicutes in the patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Method: We recruited 54 subjects, including 27 patients with MDD. Fecal samples were collected for identification by 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Results: The study shows that the alpha diversity indices of MDD patients are lower than those of the healthy controls. Firmicutes is the most significantly decreased phylum in the MDD samples. There are totally 13 taxonomic biomarkers with P-value <0.01 from Firmicutes. There are differences in 17 KEGG pathways between the two groups. Conclusion: This study found that there is a significant disorder of gut microbiota in the patients with depression, in which the Firmicutes decreased significantly. Defects of the Firmicutes may lead to the depression in short-chain fatty acids, which could account for the physiological basis of low-level inflammation of depression. Limitations: This is a cross-sectional study and the sample size is comparatively small. Though several diet-related factors were controlled in the study, there is no quantified assessment of it.

The alterations in the gut microbiota have been reported to be correlated with the development of depression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of intestinal microbiota in depressed patients after antidepressant treatment. We recruited 30 MDD patients (MDD group) and 30 healthy controls (control group). The MDD group received individualized treatment with escitalopram at a maximum dose of 20 mg/day. After depressive symptoms improved to a HAMD scale score > 50%, a fecal sample was collected again and used as the follow-up group. The differences of gut microbiota between patients and controls, the characteristics of gut microbiota under treatment and the potential differences in metabolic functions were thus investigated. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was significantly different within three groups, and the ratio of follow-up group was significantly lower than those of the other two groups. Alpha diversity was significantly higher in MDD group than those of the other groups, and the alpha diversity was not significantly different between control and follow-up groups. The beta diversity of some patients resembled participants in the control group. The metabolic function of gut microbiota after treatment was still different from that of the control group. This study suggests that the intestinal flora of depressed patients has a tendency to return to normal under escitalopram treatment.

Objective: In this study, we compared the prevalence rate of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) between young males with schizophrenia and the general young males as the control group, and we also investigated the risk factors of NAFLD in young males with schizophrenia. Materials and methods: This is a large cross-sectional study consisting of the study group and parallel control group. The study group comprises 202 cases of young males with schizophrenia recruited from Liaoning province Demobilized Soldiers Kangning Hospital, and 149 healthy young males were recruited as the control group. The clinical evaluation included Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), basic information, disease-related information, and physical examination information. The laboratory tests included fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). The physical examination included liver ultrasonography. Results: No statistical difference was observed between the study and control groups regarding age (30.5±3.9 vs 30.7±3.6), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, fasting glucose level, and total cholesterol. NAFLD was observed in both the study and control groups. The prevalence of NAFLD was 49.5% (100/202) in the study group, and 20.1% (30/149) in the control group. The study group was further divided into NAFLD group and non-NAFLD group. There were significant differences in medication combination, drug dosage, negative factor score in PANSS (14.1±4.0 vs 12.7±4.5), BMI, fasting glucose level, total cholesterol, triglyceride, ALT, and AST between NAFLD group and non-NAFLD group. According to the results of the multiple-factor analysis, the onset of NAFLD among young males with schizophrenia was significantly correlated with the following factors: triglyceride, BMI, medication combination, drug dosage, and negative factor score in PANSS. Conclusion: The prevalence of NAFLD in the study group was significantly higher than that in the control group. Multivariate analysis indicated that, triglyceride, BMI, medication combination, drug dosage, and negative factor score in PANSS were significantly related to NAFLD in patients with schizophrenia.