Fecal Microbiota Changes in Patients With Postpartum Depressive Disorder

Study information

Needs review

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

33134190

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.3389/fcimb.2020.567268

URI Uniform resource identifier for web resources.

Authors

Zhou Y, Chen C, Yu H, Yang Z

Journal

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Year

2020

Keywords:

16SrRNA gene, gut microbiota, gut-brain, postpartum depressive disorder, sex hormone

Postpartum depressive disorder (PPD) is a unique subtype of major depressive disorder and a substantial contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality. However, the pathogenesis of PPD has still remained elusive, and it may associate with genetic and environmental factors. Gut microbiota has already been proved to be associated with depression; however, a limited number of studies have concentrated on PPD. The present study aimed to explore the potential correlations between gut microbiota and PPD. In this study, 57 participants were enrolled, in which fecal samples of 28 patients with PPD and 16 healthy controls (HCs) were collected and then analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. The results showed that diversity and composition of gut microbial communities were partly different between PPD patients and HCs. The relative abundance of Firmicutes phyla was lower in PPD patients. The levels of several predominant genera were significantly different between PPD patients and HCs. More importantly, the PPD patients experienced reduced levels of Faecalibacterium, Phascolarctobacterium, Butyricicoccus, and Lachnospiraceae, as well as increased levels of Enterobacteriaceae family. In addition, a correlation was observed between levels of Phascolarctobacterium, Lachnospiraceae, Faecalibacterium, and Tyzzerella.3 and the severity of depressive symptoms. Various kinds of bacteria, such as Lachnospiraceae and Faecalibacterium, were found to be associated with levels of sex hormones. This study indicated the correlation between gut microbiota and PPD, and gut microbiota-based biomarkers may be helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of PPD patients. However, further studies need to be conducted to clarify the cause-effect relationship between PPD patients and gut microbiota and to highlight the suitability of gut microbiome as a biomarker.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2025/06/09

Curator: Aleru Divine

Revision editor(s): Aleru Divine

Subjects

Location of subjects: China

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces,feces

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Postpartum depression depression, post-Natal,depression, post-partum,depression, postnatal,Depression, Postpartum,depressive episode with postpartum onset,major depressive episode with peripartum onset,maternity blues,Maternity blues (disorder),post Natal depression,post partum depression,post-Natal depression,post-partum depression,postnatal depression,postpartum depression,Postpartum depression

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Healthy Group

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Postpartum Depression (PPD) Group

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Patients diagnosed with Postpartum Depression (PPD)

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 16

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 28

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): Currently on antibiotics

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V3

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: LEfSe

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 2.0

Alpha Diversity

Pielou Quantifies how equal the community is numerically: unchanged

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: unchanged

Richness Number of species: unchanged

Faith Phylogenetic diversity, takes into account phylogenetic distance of all taxa identified in a sample: unchanged

Signature 1

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Curated date: 2025/06/09

Curator: Aleru Divine

Revision editor(s): Aleru Divine

Source: Figure 5

Description: Bacterial taxa differences between healthy control (HC) and postpartum depressive disorder (PPD) patient samples.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Postpartum Depression (PPD) Group

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Enterococcus
Enterococcaceae
Escherichia/Shigella sp.
bacterium FCS020

Revision editor(s): Aleru Divine

Signature 2

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Curated date: 2025/06/09

Curator: Aleru Divine

Revision editor(s): Aleru Divine

Source: Figure 5

Description: Bacterial taxa differences between healthy control (HC) and postpartum depressive disorder (PPD) patient samples.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Postpartum Depression (PPD) Group

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Phocaeicola massiliensis B84634 = Timone 84634 = DSM 17679 = JCM 13223
Holdemania sp. Marseille-P2844
Megasphaera
Lachnospiraceae ND3007Lachnospiraceae ND3007
Butyricicoccus
Eubacterium xylanophilum
Phascolarctobacterium
Acidaminococcaceae
Acidaminococcales
Faecalibacterium
Clostridia
Bacillota
Eubacteriales

Revision editor(s): Aleru Divine