A new study from scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School and the National Neuroscience Institute has uncovered a connection between gut microbes and anxiety, suggesting that microbial metabolites, particularly indoles, play a crucial role in regulating brain activity tied to anxious behavior. This new finding, published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, provides a pathway for the development of probiotic-base therapies to help treat mental health issues.
The researchers sought to better understand what, if any, role microbes play in anxiety. In preclinical studies, the team observed that in a germ-free environment, people who were not exposed to live microbes exhibited higher levels of anxious behavior than those people with typical resident live gut…