OxPALM: Oxford Study on Probiotics and Low Mood

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · Jan 10, 2019

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Current antidepressant treatments, which largely target monoamine pathways, are efficacious in treating many aspects of major depression, however it is estimated that more than 30% of depressed patients fail to respond to standard antidepressant medications. Thus, there is a strong clinical need to identify and investigate novel treatment strategies that target different pathways involved in the pathophysiology of mood disorders.

There is now compelling evidence for a link between the enteric microbiota and brain function. The proliferation of the Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli strains in...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Participants are willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study.
• • Male or female, aged between 18 and 55 years.
• • Body mass index (BMI) within the range of 18.5 - 30 kg/m2.
• • Sufficiently fluent in English to understand the tasks and instructions.
• • Score between 5 and 19 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
• • Participants not judged to be at risk of suicide or self-harm (as measured using the SCID) and/or in need of immediate treatment to the discretion of the Investigators.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Current history of Axis I psychiatric disorder except for depression or anxiety;
• • Current intake (or intention to take) any medication that may affect the outcomes, including medications affecting brain processing, sedation, and motility (examples include antidepressants, anxiolytics, among others);
• • Current psychological therapy;
• • Major medical disorders (including diseases affecting the human gastrointestinal tract);
• • Intake of any other food supplements which, in the opinion of the Investigators, may affect the results;
• • Any significant change in diet which, to the discretion of the Investigators, may affect the results;
• • Recent participation in another research trial which, to the discretion of the Investigators, may affect the results (for example, using the same / a similar battery of cognitive / emotional tasks in the last 3 months);
• • Dyslexia (given the nature of the computer tasks);
• • Any other significant finding arising during the screening/selection process which, in the opinion of the Investigators, may influence the participant's ability to take part in the study or the study results.