Gut microbiome and its association with psychiatric disorders, specially schizophrenia

Abstract

Background and Aim: Microorganisms living in the human body play an important role in human health. Human microbiota is known as an essential agent and playing an important role in the biological processes of the human body. The role of the microbiota in the host metabolism, intestinal inflammatory responses and their treatment has been well recognized. In this study we investigated the relationship between intestinal microbiota and schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: Using keywords of”Gut microbiota”، “Schizophrenia”، “Fecal transplantation” و “Mental disorders”, we searched data bases of SCOPUS، PubMed و Web of Science in order to find studies on the effects and relationship of the gut microbiota with occurrence of some diseases, the gut-brain relationship, and the role of fecal transplantation in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases and mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia. Results: Recent studies have emphasized the importance of the microbial gut-brain axis. The intestinal microbiota has certain impacts in the process of development of mental disorders such as anxiety, stress, depression, and behavioral disorders. Conclusion: Use of gut microbiota maybe helpful for the patients with schizophrenia for improvement of the cognitive changes. In addition, due to the low prevalence and high rate of complications of this disease, more studies on the role of fecal microbiota transplantation in the patients with schizophrenia are recommended.

Keywords

• schizophrenia
• gut microbiota
• fecal transplantation
• mental disorders