Are conventional antidepressants enough? The gut microbiome and nanocarrier-based delivery systems as future prospects for depression treatment.

Oct 15, 2025Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews

Improving Depression Treatment: The Role of Gut Health and New Drug Delivery Methods

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Abstract

Depression is a major global health issue and a leading cause of disability. Traditional antidepressants often don't work well and can have side effects. Recent research shows that our gut bacteria might play an important role in depression. Changes in gut health could help improve treatment options. Additionally, new methods for delivering antidepressant medications, like using tiny carriers, may enhance their effectiveness. This review discusses how gut health affects depression and explores innovative treatment strategies.

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Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and thus a major contributor to the economic burden of disease. In addition to genetic and epigenetic factors, sustained psychological stress linked to modern lifestyles (often characterized by high social expectations, elevated workload and increasing financial needs) may trigger psychiatric diseases such as depression. The effective treatment of this psychiatric condition represents one of the major challenges of our time, due to its skyrocketing increase in prevalence. While conventional antidepressants often provide low response rates and have frequent adverse effects, emerging research is revealing novel and more efficient therapeutic approaches. Notably, the bacteria that populates our intestinal tract, also known as the gut microbiota, is highly susceptible to stress and other factors associated with depression. Therefore, gut microbiota-targeting interventions based on lifestyle modifications or direct supplementation with biotherapeutic agents are being proposed as monotherapy or as adjuvants to conventional treatments. In addition, novel delivery systems, such as nanocarriers, for current antidepressants are being explored to improve drug bioavailability and therapeutic efficiency. This review summarizes the role of the gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of depression and its link with current antidepressant treatments. Furthermore, it explores how strategies like nanoparticle-based delivery systems are paving the way for the next generation of treatments.

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Are conventional antidepressants enough? The gut microbiome and nanocarrier-based delivery systems as future prospects for depression treatment.

Abstract

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