Microbiota alterations leading to amino acid deficiency contribute to depression in children and adolescents.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) in children and adolescents is a growing global public health concern. Metabolic alterations in the microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) axis have been implicated in MDD pathophysiology, but their specific role in pediatric populations remains unclear.

Results: We conducted a multi-omics study on 256 MDD patients and 307 healthy controls in children and adolescents, integrating plasma metabolomics, fecal metagenomics, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) of the brain. KEGG enrichment analysis of 360 differential expressed metabolites (DEMs) indicated significant plasma amino acid (AA) metabolism deficiencies (p-value < 0.0001). We identified 58 MDD-enriched and 46 MDD-depleted strains, as well as 6 altered modules in amino acid metabolism in fecal metagenomics. Procrustes analysis revealed the association between the altered gut microbiome and circulating AA metabolism (p-value = 0.001, M² = 0.932). Causal analyses suggested that plasma AAs might mediate the impact of altered gut microbiota on depressive and anxious symptoms. Additionally, rs-fMRI revealed that connectivity deficits in the frontal lobe are associated with depression and 22 DEMs in AA metabolism. Furthermore, transplantation of fecal microbiota from MDD patients to adolescent rats induced depressive-like behaviors and 14 amino acids deficiency in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Moreover, the dietary lysine restriction increased depression susceptibility in adolescent rats by reducing the expression of excitatory amino acid transporters in the PFC.

Conclusions: Our findings highlight that gut microbiota alterations contribute to AAs deficiency, particularly lysine, which plays a crucial role in MDD pathogenesis in children and adolescents. Targeting AA metabolism may offer novel therapeutic strategies for pediatric depression. Video Abstract.