Comparative therapeutic efficacy study of Lactobacilli probiotics and citalopram in treatment of acute stress-induced depression in lab murine models

A relationship between Microbiome and its effect on depression has been suspected in earlier studies. Here we examined whether the addition of Lactobacillus probiotics which flourishes the gut-microbiota will have a beneficial adjuvant therapeutic effect on treatment of depression or even considering it as a main treatment line in the future for treatment of depression or anxiety like behavior after further studies. Mice receiving probiotics in their diet exhibited mostly similar anxiolytic and anti-depressive effects of the mice that received SSRI anti-depressant citalopram and displayed enhanced outcomes which were shown in the Tail Suspension test – which is considered a high output tool in assessing anti-depression medications –, Super oxidase dismutase concentration in the brain tissue and HPLC analysis of Kynurenine biomarker in the brain. Taken together these data support the link between healthy gut microbiome and its effect on depression-like behavior and suggest that probiotics may even have a similar therapeutic effect of anti- depressants in treatment of depression.