Pregnancy is a period of intense bodily, metabolic and microbiota modification – a set of microorganisms that inhabit the intestine. But, despite all these changes, a study carried out with 34 Brazilian pregnant women found that certain changes in the composition of the microbiota are associated with the intensity of depressive symptoms. The results were published in the Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry
Node work carried out by researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) with support from FAPESP, it was observed that women with more intense depressive symptoms had a greater quantity of enterobacteria – microorganisms associated with pro-inflammatory pathways and the modulation of important neurotransmitters.
When these pregnant women were referred for psychiatric care and showed improvement in depressive symptoms, the microbiota profile followed this evolution, increasing the proportion of bifidobacteria (symbiotic microorganisms).
“Depression is a taboo and even more so when it happens during pregnancy. But the fact is that it is a disease and we observe that the microbiota responds to this process. The microbial composition of pregnant women with depressive symptoms is different from that observed in those without symptoms. And, over time, we identified that, as this woman is treated in psychiatry, her microbiota changes, as does the assessment of depressive symptoms”, reports Carla Taddei, professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB-USP) , collaborating researcher at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCF-USP) and senior author of the article.
The work, developed by doctoral student Amanda Mota, is the first with Brazilian pregnant women. The results converge with those of previous studies that investigated, in other populations, the relationship between psychiatric diseases and microbiota. The article presents the first results of a larger study, which aims to evaluate the role of the microbiota in diseases specific to the gestational period, such as pre-eclampsia.
“There are very few studies in Brazil linking microbiota and complications during pregnancy. However, identifying these parameters and monitoring the mood and health of this population is extremely important. It is known, for example, that women who have postpartum depression – it is currently estimated that the problem affects up to 20% of women who have recently given birth – already had symptoms during pregnancy. It is necessary to open our eyes to depression during pregnancy and, thus, reduce the incidence of postpartum depression, which involves the baby, major hormonal changes, the pressure of breastfeeding, stress, physical fatigue, that is, a series of factors that tend to worsen the condition of women who are prone to depression”, comments the researcher.
Prenatal
To carry out the study, volunteers who were undergoing pregnancy monitoring at the USP University Hospital were recruited. They were screened using a non-diagnostic questionnaire called the Edinburgh Scale, which identifies the intensity of depressive symptoms. Microbiota tests were also carried out in three different periods, between the third trimester of pregnancy and the postpartum period.
“Some of them, healthy women with low-risk prenatal care and who would be included in the control group of our study, scored with severe symptoms of depression. Of course, you don't need to go out and test everyone's microbiota. It still has no therapeutic basis. But this made us question whether it would be interesting to actually include the Edinburgh Scale in prenatal medical care”, says the researcher.
According to Taddei, despite being recommended, psychiatric investigation during pregnancy and postpartum is still not widespread. “It's all very underreported, but some studies estimate that between 31% and 50% of women with anxiety and depression are diagnosed during this period. Of these, only 14% receive adequate treatment and only 3% experience remission”, he says.
It is worth remembering that problems in maternal health can affect fetal neurodevelopment, which can lead to consequences such as the birth of premature babies with low nutritional weight, in addition to the increased risk of compromising the baby's psychic, neurological and intellectual development.
According to the researcher, the association between microbiota and gestational depression was already expected and the work showed that it is possibly a bidirectional relationship, with one factor influencing the other. “There is the gut-brain axis, a two-way communication between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain. Furthermore, previous studies had already demonstrated that the mother's psychiatric state alters the colonization of the baby's microbiota, suggesting a link between the gut-brain axis and the composition of the newborn's microbiota”, he says.
This content was originally published in Depression during pregnancy is related to the intestinal microbiota, says study on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil