Correlation Of Gut Microbiome With First-episode Depression And Cognitive Function

Objective:To analyze the correlation between depressive symptoms/cognitive function of patients with first-episode depression and their gut microbial structure.Methods:According to the inclusion criteria,a total of 41 patients with first-episode depression and 44 healthy volunteers were included in this study.Collect the general demographic data of the subjects,use the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale(HAMD-17)to evaluate the subjects' depressive symptoms,apply the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status(RBANS),Stroop color word test and continuous performance test(CPT)to assess the cognitive function of the subjects.Collect the stool of the subjects,use high-throughput sequencing technology to obtain the genomic information of the intestinal microbes of the subjects,apply QIIME2 software to analyze the diversity of intestinal microbes.LEfSe analysis method was used to screen species with significant differences between groups;Spearman correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used to examine the correlation between intestinal microbes and depressive symptoms/cognitive function.Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 22.0software.Results:1.There is no statistically significant difference in general demographic data such as age,gender,years of education,BMI index,eating habits between the depression group and the healthy control group(P> 0.05).2.Compare the results of cognitive function assessment of two groups.The differences in these items are statistically significant: immediate memory(P = 0.032),verbal function(P = 0.007),delayed memory(P = 0.048),total RBANS score(P = 0.004),single-word Time(P = 0.001),single-color time(P = 0.006),double-word time(P = 0.010),double-color time(P = 0.026),CPT four-digit score(P <0.001)and CPT mean score(P =0.026).3.Compare the diversity of intestinal microbes in the two groups,the Simpson index of intestinal microbes in the depression group is lower than that in the healthy control group,with a significant difference(P = 0.022).4.Compare the structural differences between the intestinal microbes of two groups :the relative abundances of Clostridium,Erysipelotrichaceae,and Turicibacter in the gut microbiome of the depression group are significantly reduced,and the relative abundance of Veillonellaceae is significantly increased(LDA effect> 2,P <0.05).5.Apply Spearman correlation analysis in the depression group,the results show that:Simpson index is negatively correlated with insomnia factor score(r =-0.419,P = 0.029),and positively correlated with the score of CPT four-digit item(r = 0.558,P = 0.020).At the family level,the relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae is positively correlated with immediate memory(r = 0.059,P = 0.002)and CPT mean score(r = 0.504,P = 0.039),and is negatively correlated with the double-color time(r =-0.418,P = 0.042);the relative abundance of the Veillonellaceae is negatively correlated with the CPT mean score(r =-0.551,P = 0.022).At the genus level,the relative abundance of Clostridium is positively related to the single-word time(r = 0.498,P = 0.013)and single-color time(r = 0.428,P =0.037).6.Multiple linear regression model is constructed in the depression group.The results show that the relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae enters the regression equations with immediate memory(? = 0.591,P = 0.002),double-color time(? =-0.418,P = 0.042),and CPT mean score(? = 0.507,P = 0.038)as the dependent variables respectively,which can explain 32.1%,13.7%,20.7% of the variation of immediate memory,two-color time,and CPT mean score.The Simpson index enters the regression equations with the insomnia factor(? =-419,P = 0.029)and CPT four-digit score(? = 0.558,P = 0.020)as the dependent variables respectively,which can explain 14.3%,26.5% of the variation of the insomnia factor and CPT four-digit score.The relative abundance of the Clostridium enters the regression equation with the single-word time(? = 0.514,P = 0.010)as the dependent variable,which can explain 23.1% of the single-word time variation.Conclusion:1.Patients with depression have impaired cognitive function.Their memory,attention and executive ability are reduced compared with healthy people.2.There are significant changes of the structure and diversity of gut microbiome in patients with depression,these changes may be related to the severity of depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment.