https://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/sc...hat-influences-mood-by-eating-brain-chemical/
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Scientists discover gut bacteria that influences mood by ‘eating’ brain chemical
DAVID FERGUSON
For the first time, scientists have determined that there are bacteria in the human gut which depend on chemicals from our brain for survival. The discovery of this relationship between the gut biome and brain chemistry could lead the way to new treatments for depression and a host of other disorders.
New Scientist said Friday that scientists at Boston’s Northeastern University have isolated a group of bacteria that depend upon the brain chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABA — a molecule that the brain uses to calm itself — to survive.
Researcher Philip Strandwitz explained that the fact that the newly discovered bacteria — named KLE1738 — appear to eat GABA to live could explain the newly emerging link between gut microbiome health and mental health.
A biome is any system that contains living organisms like a stretch of wetlands or a terrarium in a science class. The microbiome is the teeming mass of 100 trillion bacteria that live inside each person.
The Northwestern group isolated KLE1738 and tried to ascertain what its role was among the hundreds of species of bacteria that make up the microbiome.
In a presentation last month at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston, Strandwitz said, “Nothing made it grow, except GABA.”...