Skip to main content
About the Institute
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • Russian
  • Portuguese
  • Polish

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Gastroenterology
  3. Schizophrenia and aggressive behavior: what involvement of the intestinal microbiota?
  • Our publications
    • News
    • Microbiota Mag
    • Thematic folders
    • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
  • About the Institute
    • Partnerships
    • Press room
  • Congresses
    • Congress calendar
    • Congress reviews
  • Continuing Medical Education
    • Accrediting courses
    • Xpeer App
  • Useful documents
    • Infographics
    About the Institute

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

Lay public section

Find here your dedicated section
Gastroenterology
Gynecology
Pediatrics
Dermatology

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Gastroenterology
  3. Schizophrenia and aggressive behavior: what involvement of the intestinal microbiota?
Gastroenterology

Schizophrenia and aggressive behavior: what involvement of the intestinal microbiota?

Psychiatric disorders
Gastroenterology Psychiatry

In schizophrenic adults, a pro-inflammatory phenotype, oxidative stress, dysbiosis and intestinal permeability are associated with aggressive behavior. This could lead to future microbial or anti-inflammatory therapies.

Gastroenterology
Gynecology
Pediatrics
Dermatology
  • Our publications
    • News
    • Microbiota Mag
    • Thematic folders
    • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
  • About the Institute
    • Partnerships
    • Press room
  • Congresses
    • Congress calendar
    • Congress reviews
  • Continuing Medical Education
    • Accrediting courses
    • Xpeer App
  • Useful documents
    • Infographics
    About the Institute

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

Lay public section

Find here your dedicated section

Sources

This article is based on scientific information

Sharing is caring

Your colleagues might be interested in this topic. Why not share it?

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

About this article

Created 30 January 2023
Updated 06 February 2023

Schizophrenia affects 1% of the adult population, especially young adults. This psychiatric disease is thought to increase the propensity for aggressiveness, although we do not really know why. Nevertheless, some leads are emerging, involving the intestinal microbiota and a possible bacterial translocation in case of loss of watertightness of the intestinal mucosa. Following this hypothesis, a recent study profiled the diversity and composition of the intestinal microbiota, certain fecal (sidenote: Short chain fatty acids (SCFA) Short chain fatty acids (SCFA) are a source of energy (fuel) for an individual’s cells. They interact with the immune system and are involved in communication between the intestine and the brain. Silva YP, Bernardi A, Frozza RL. The Role of Short-Chain Fatty Acids From Gut Microbiota in Gut-Brain Communication. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020;11:25. ) (short chain fatty acids) and neurotransmitters of 50 schizophrenic patients, 25 of whom had aggressive behaviors. Objective: to understand the link between inflammation, oxidation, intestinal permeability and microbiota in schizophrenic patients with aggressive behavior.

An inflammatory phenotype...

The results show that schizophrenic patients with aggressive tendencies had significantly increased levels of serum biomarkers of nucleic acid and lipid oxidation compared to non-aggressive schizophrenic patients. These pro-oxidative and pro-inflammatory responses were related to the severity of aggression, suggesting a co-implication of systemic inflammation and oxidation in the development of aggression in schizophrenia.

1% of the global populations are affected by schizophrenia.

4 to 7 Schizophrenia may augment the propensity for aggression incidence about fourfold to sevenfold.

... coupled with bacterial dysbiosis

Schizophrenic patients with aggressive tendencies also showed a much lower bacterial diversity. This intestinal dysbiosis thus seems to be correlated with the etiology or the severity of aggressiveness in schizophrenic individuals, although it cannot be concluded that there is a causal relationship.

Furthermore, the abundance of the genus Prevotella was significantly increased, while Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, Blautia, Bifidobacterium, Collinsella and Eubacterium coprostanoligenes were greatly depleted in the group of patients with aggressive tendencies. This change was accompanied by significant reductions in some metabolites, although the authors could not establish a causal relationship: 6 fecal SCFAs (acetic, propanoic, butyric, isobutyric, isovaleric, and isohexanoic acids) and 6 neurotransmitters (5-hydroxytryptophan, levodopa, norepinephrine hydrochloride, adrenaline hydrochloride, kynurenic acid, and histidine) were found to be significantly less present in patients with aggressive behavior.

A hypothesis to be confirmed

Considering these results as a whole, the authors hypothesize that the systemic pro-inflammatory phenotype previously observed in schizophrenics with aggressive tendencies would involve alterations of the intestinal microbiota and its metabolites, hyper-permeability of the intestinal wall allowing intestinal bacteria to reach the general circulation by causing oxidative stress, linked to the severity of the aggressive character. Thus, hyper-inflammation would have led, via the intestinal microbiota, to hyper-oxidation and ultimately to aggressiveness. This hypothesis has yet to be validated in larger-scale studies.

Sources

Deng H, He L, Wang C et al. Altered gut microbiota and its metabolites correlate with plasma cytokines in schizophrenia inpatients with aggression. BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 27;22(1):629.

Tags
Schizophrenia Dysbiosis Psychiatric disorder SCFA Psychiatry

en_view en_sources

    See also

    Gut microbiota: a common signature for psychiatric disorders?
    Microbiota 16 synthèse Gut microbiota and stress-related disorders
    Created 30 January 2023
    Updated 06 February 2023

    About this article

    To know more about this topic.

    Main topic

    Psychiatric disorders

    Medical practice

    Gastroenterology Psychiatry

    Content type

    News
    Gastroenterology

    Your IBS Diagnosis Check List

    How many patients suffering from gut disorder do you see per week? How many are diagnosed with Irritable Bo...

    Find out more

    Human milk nutrient fortifiers alter the developing gastrointestinal microbiota of very-low-birth-weight infants

    Commented article - Children's section By Pr. Emmanuel M...

    Find out more

    Impact of beer and non alcoholic consumption on the gut microbiota

    By Pr. Bernd SchnablDivision of Gastroenterology, San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC), UC ...

    Find out more

    Everything you need to know about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

    Accrediting training, infographics, expert’s video, thematic folder, news… Biocodex Microbiota Institute pr...

    Find out more

    Gut Microbiota #17

    By Pr. Satu PekkalaAcademy of Finland Research Fellow, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of ...

    Find out more

    Gut Microbiota # 16

    By Pr. Satu PekkalaAcademy of Finland Research Fellow, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of ...

    Find out more

    Highlights from the UEGW

    By Dr. Lucas WautersGastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Find out more

    The Gut-Brain axis

    By Pr. Sarkis K. Mazmanian, John W. Bostick, Nadia SuryawinataBiology and Biological Engineering, Californi...

    Find out more

    Continue reading

    News
    14.03.2023

    Positive impact of running on gut microbiota and adolescent depression

    Read the article
    09.03.2023

    Each subtype of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) has its own dysbiosis

    Read the article
    Parkinson : le microbiote intestinal, chef d’orchestre des mécanismes pathogéniques ?
    27.02.2023

    Does the gut microbiota orchestrate pathogenic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease?

    Read the article
    Everything you need to know about Microbiota & Immunity
    15.09.2022

    Everything you need to know about Microbiota & Immunity

    Read the article
    The psychobiotic diet: modulating gut microbiota to reduce stress
    13.02.2023

    The psychobiotic diet: modulating gut microbiota to reduce stress

    Read the article
    23.01.2023

    Idiopathic urethritis in men: new infectious etiologies?

    Read the article
    13.01.2023

    Insomnia in seniors: a link with the gut microbiota

    Read the article
    03.01.2023

    Almonds: limited effects on the gut microbiota

    Read the article
    What's worth reading about microbiota
    Follow us on Twitter
    Read our thematic folder
    The Janus face of Antibiotics: Life Savers & Microbiota Disrupters
    NL13_cover
    Check out latest newsletter
    IBS, Microbiota & Covid-19
    • Our publications
      • News
      • Microbiota Mag
      • Thematic folders
      • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
    • About the Institute
      • Partnerships
      • Press room
    • Congresses
      • Congress calendar
      • Congress reviews
    • Continuing Medical Education
      • Accrediting courses
      • Xpeer App
    • Useful documents
      • Infographics
      About the Institute

      Join the microbiota community

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section
    Gastroenterology
    Gynecology
    Pediatrics
    Dermatology
    • English
    • Français
    • Español
    • Russian
    • Portuguese
    • Polish

    Browse the site

    • Our publications
      • News
      • Microbiota Mag
      • Thematic folders
      • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
    • About the Institute
      • Partnerships
      • Press room
    • Congresses
      • Congress calendar
      • Congress reviews
    • Continuing Medical Education
      • Accrediting courses
      • Xpeer App
    • Useful documents
      • Infographics
      About the Institute

      Join the microbiota community

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Discover

    Gastroenterology
    Gynecology
    Pediatrics
    Dermatology

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Redirection

    You are about to be redirected and leave our website

    • Be redirected
    • Stay on the Biocodex Microbiota Institute's website

    Stay with us !

    Join the Microbiota Community of HCPs and researchers and receive “Microbiota Digest” and "Microbiota Mag" to stay up to date on the latest news about microbiota.

    * Mandatory Fields

    BMI 20-35

    Explore

    14.03.2023

    Positive impact of running on gut microbiota and adolescent depression

    Read the article
    09.03.2023

    Each subtype of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) has its own dysbiosis

    Read the article
    Parkinson : le microbiote intestinal, chef d’orchestre des mécanismes pathogéniques ?
    27.02.2023

    Does the gut microbiota orchestrate pathogenic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease?

    Read the article

    Stay updated

    Join the Microbiota Community of HCPs and researchers and receive “Microbiota Digest” and "Microbiota Mag" to stay up to date on the latest news about microbiota.

    * Mandatory Fields

    BMI 20-35

    • Our publications
      • News
      • Microbiota Mag
      • Thematic folders
      • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
    • About the Institute
      • Partnerships
      • Press room
    • Congresses
      • Congress calendar
      • Congress reviews
    • Continuing Medical Education
      • Accrediting courses
      • Xpeer App
    • Useful documents
      • Infographics
      About the Institute

      Join the microbiota community

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Discover

    Gastroenterology
    Gynecology
    Pediatrics
    Dermatology

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

    © 2022 Biocodex. All rights reserved.

    • Cookies Policy
    • Data protection policy
    • GTU
    • Sitemap
    • Cookies settings
    Biocodex logo