Nathaniel L Ritz, Marta Brocka, Mary I Butler, Caitlin S M Cowan, Camila Barrera-Bugueño, Christopher J R Turkington, Lorraine A Draper, Thomaz F S Bastiaanssen, Valentine Turpin, Lorena Morales, David Campos, Cassandra E Gheorghe, Anna Ratsika, Virat Sharma, Anna V Golubeva, Maria R Aburto, Andrey N Shkoporov, Gerard M Moloney, Colin Hill, Gerard Clarke, David A Slattery, Timothy G Dinan, John F Cryan
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a crippling psychiatric disorder characterized by intense fear or anxiety in social situations and their avoidance. However, the underlying biology of SAD is unclear and better treatments are needed. Recently, the gut microbiota has emerged as a key regulator of both brain and behaviour, especially those related to social function. Moreover, increasing data supports a role for immune function and oxytocin signalling in social responses. To investigate whether the gut microbiota plays a causal role in modulating behaviours relevant to SAD, we transplanted the microbiota from SAD patients, which was identified by 16S rRNA sequencing to be of a differential composition compared to healthy controls, to mice...
January 2, 2024: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America