Short-chain fatty acids in mood and schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Evidence in the field and translational perspectives.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing preclinical mechanisms and human observational literature without systematic review methodology.
PubMed 40553754 · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2025.111430
What was done
The authors conducted a narrative review summarizing preclinical and human literature on the physiological and pathophysiological roles of microbiome-derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) via the microbiome-gut-brain axis in mood and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
What was found
The abstract provides no quantitative metrics or effect sizes. It notes that human microbiome studies consistently report a decreased abundance of SCFA-producing bacteria in patients with mood and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, whereas direct measures of fecal and blood SCFA concentrations have yielded mixed and inconclusive directions across studies.
Why it matters
It synthesizes the translational potential of gut-derived metabolites in severe psychiatric disorders while highlighting substantial inconsistencies between bacterial composition and circulating or excreted SCFA levels.
Limits
As a narrative review, it lacks a systematic search protocol, quality assessment, and meta-analytic pooling. The underlying human literature is limited by contradictory findings between microbial abundance and biological SCFA concentrations in blood and stool.
Cited by
- supports Gut bacteria ferment dietary fiber to produce short-chain fatty acids, which signal to the brain through the vagus nerve and the bloodstream.