Abstract
Objective: The microbiota-gut-brain axis is a key pathway perturbed by prolonged stressors to produce brain and behavioral disorders. Frontline healthcare workers (FHWs) fighting against COVID-19 typically experience stressful event sequences and manifest some mental symptoms; however, the role of gut microbiota in such stress-induced mental problems remains unclear. We investigated the association between the psychological stress of FHW and gut microbiota.
Methods: We used full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize the longitudinal changes in gut microbiota and investigated the impact of microbial changes on FHWs’ mental status.
Results: Stressful events induced significant depression, anxiety, and stress in FHWs and disrupted the gut microbiome; gut dysbiosis persisted for at least half a year. Different microbes followed discrete trajectories during the half-year of follow-up. Microbes associated with mental health were mainly Faecalibacterium spp. and [Eubacterium] eligens group spp. with anti-inflammatory effects. Of note, the prediction model indicated that low abundance of [Eubacterium] hallii group uncultured bacterium and high abundance of Bacteroides eggerthii at Day 0 (immediately after the two-month frontline work) were significant determinants of the reappearance of post-traumatic stress symptoms in FHWs.
Limitations: The lack of metabolomic evidence and animal experiments result in the unclear mechanism of gut dysbiosis-related stress symptoms.
Conclusion: The stressful event sequences of fighting against COVID-19 induce characteristic longitudinal changes in gut microbiota, which underlies dynamic mental state changes.
Keywords: Bacteria; Frontline medical worker; Full-length 16S rRNA sequencing; Gut microbiota; Microbial dysbiosis; Stress.
【저자키워드】 Bacteria, gut microbiota, stress., Frontline medical worker, Full-length 16S rRNA sequencing, Microbial dysbiosis, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, Anti-inflammatory effects, Anxiety, Depression, Stress, mental health, Sequencing, gut microbiome, healthcare worker, Brain, 16S rRNA, Psychological stress, pathway, trajectory, Bacteria, gut microbiota, Psychological, Follow-up, experiment, characteristic, change, mechanism, rRNA, association, Evidence, microbe, Gut, microbial, longitudinal changes, changes, determinant, Post-traumatic stress symptoms, Stressor, disorders, sequence, problem, frontline healthcare workers, 16S rRNA gene, microbes, full-length, stress symptoms, Mental, metabolomic, event, longitudinal change, Eubacterium, Faecalibacterium, lack, indicated, investigated, Day, induce, Bacteroide, post-traumatic stress symptom, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, healthcare worker, event, induce, post-traumatic stress symptom,