In a recent study published in Nature Mental Health , researchers characterized brain-gut microbiome (BGM) patterns related to stress resilience. Study: Stress-resilience impacts psychological wellbeing as evidenced by brain–gut microbiome interactions . Image Credit: SewCreamStudio/Shutterstock.
com Resilience refers to beneficial outcomes in response to stressful events or threats and involves change acceptance, tenacity, negative affect tolerance, and the ability to recover following a stressful event. Research has been mostly centered on the correlations between resilience and personality traits, social factors, and behavioral/emotional regulation strategies. The composition and function of the human microbiome have been linked to stress-related disorders.
The gut microbiome can modulate psychological functioning via the BGM system and has been implicated in conferring stress resilience. This suggests that the microbiome may harbor metabolites with potential therapeutic effects. However, no study has elucidated an integrative biological profile of resilience.
In the present study, researchers investigated the relationship of resilience with clinical phenomes, neural characteristics, and microbiome function. This study was a secondary data analysis pooled from two studies. Participants were recruited from a community in Los Angeles.
Individuals were excluded if they had neurological conditions, abdominal surgery, psychiatric illnesses, substance use, antibiotic/probiotic .