Anxiety and depression caused by stress can be affected by whether or not gut bacteria is living in the intestines, scientists have found.
A study on laboratory mice has shown that anxious and depressive behaviour brought on by exposure to stress in early life appears to depend on microbes being present in the gut.
The researchers found that both stressed mice and stressed mice with no gut bacteria showed similar hormonal changes brought on by stress, but only the mice with gut microbes demonstrated the behaviour changes associated with anxiety and depression.
