---
title: "Gut Microbial Dysbiosis Patterns in Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia and ASD: Comparative Analys"
id: "biorxiv-23-deciphering-the-gut-brain-dialogue-a-survey-based-and-in-silico-comparative"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-23-deciphering-the-gut-brain-dialogue-a-survey-based-and-in-silico-comparative"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "Neurology"
source_name: "bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)"
source_url: "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.24.746718v1?rss=1"
published_at: "2026-08-28T12:00:00.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Gut Microbial Dysbiosis Patterns in Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia and ASD: Comparative Analys
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-23-deciphering-the-gut-brain-dialogue-a-survey-based-and-in-silico-comparative
- **Specialty:** [Neurology](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/neurology.md)
- **Primary Source:** bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.24.746718v1?rss=1)
- **Published At:** 2026-08-28T12:00:00.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- The study examines the **gut-brain axis** by combining a public-awareness survey and an in-silico comparative analysis of faecal microbial dysbiosis in four neurological disorders: **depression**, **anxiety**, **schizophrenia** and **autism spectrum disorder (ASD)**. - An anonymous online survey (n = 230) in a largely young, health-sciences-affiliated Indian cohort assessed awareness of the gut–mental health link, dietary and lifestyle correlates, and stress-related gastrointestinal symptoms. - Approximately three-quarters of respondents reported awareness of a possible gut–mental health connection; about half reported no specific dietary practice to address it. - Roughly 60% of respondents experienced stress-related digestive symptoms but rarely sought medical consultation for these symptoms. - Disorder-specific lists of elevated and reduced faecal taxa were retrieved from the Disbiome database and compared using a multiple list comparator; taxonomic classification used the NCBI Taxonomy tool and phylogenetic trees were constructed in iTOL. - Comparative results show substantial overlap in dysbiosis signatures for **depression, anxiety and schizophrenia**, with common elevations (Actinomyces, Bacteroidaceae, Blautia, Eggerthella, Oscillibacter, Parasutterella, Veillonella) and common reductions (Coprococcus, Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Clostridium, Faecalibacterium, Sutterella). - **ASD** exhibited a distinct microbial signature with limited overlap with the other three disorders. - Phylum-level clustering placed the shared taxa predominantly within **Bacillota** (formerly Firmicutes), **Bacteroidota** (formerly Bacteroidetes), **Actinomycetota** (formerly Actinobacteria) and **Pseudomonadota** (formerly Proteobacteria). - The authors note that this broad phylum-level pattern mirrors patterns reported in comparative analyses of neurodegenerative diseases, implying that large-scale phylogenetic shifts may be a general correlate of chronic neurological disease while disorder specificity emerges at the level of individual taxa. - The paper concludes that findings support a shared microbial pathway linking depression, anxiety and schizophrenia that is separate from the dysbiosis observed in ASD and highlights the potential value of microbiome-informed, disorder-specific therapeutic strategies. - Methods, cohort details beyond n = 230, and raw list contents beyond the taxa named were obtained from Disbiome and processing tools; no competing interests were declared by the authors.
## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points
The gut microbiome maintains a complex, bidirectional communication network with the central nervous system, commonly referred to as the gut-brain axis and its disruption has been implicated in several neurological disorders. This study combines a survey-based assessment of public awareness with an in-silico comparative analysis of gut microbial dysbiosis across four prevalent neurological disorders as observed in the current study: depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A structured, anonymous online survey (n = 230) captured perceptions of the gut-brain connection along with dietary, lifestyle and gastrointestinal correlates of stress in a predominantly young, health-sciences-affiliated Indian cohort. In parallel, disorder-specific lists of elevated and reduced faecal microbial taxa were retrieved from the Disbiome database, compared using a multiple list comparator and taxonomically classified using the NCBI Taxonomy tool to construct phylogenetic trees in iTOL. Approximately three-quarters of respondents were aware of a potential gut-mental health link, yet about half reported no specific dietary practice and roughly 60% experienced stress-related digestive symptoms while rarely seeking medical consultation for them. Comparative analysis showed that depression, anxiety and schizophrenia shared a substantially overlapping dysbiosis signature, with common elevation of Actinomyces, Bacteroidaceae, Blautia, Eggerthella, Oscillibacter, Parasutterella and Veillonella and common reduction of Coprococcus, Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Clostridium, Faecalibacterium and Sutterella. In contrast, ASD displayed a distinct microbial signature with limited overlap with the other three disorders. Phylogenetic clustering confirmed that the shared taxa belonged predominantly to the phyla Bacillota (formerly Firmicutes), Bacteroidota (formerly Bacteroidetes), Actinomycetota (formerly Actinobacteria) and Pseudomonadota (formerly Proteobacteria). Notably, this phylum-level pattern parallels recent comparative analyses of microbial dysbiosis in neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting that broad phylogenetic shifts may be a relatively general correlate of chronic neurological disease, while disorder specificity emerges at the level of individual taxa. These findings support a shared microbial pathway linking depression, anxiety and schizophrenia that is distinct from the dysbiosis pattern observed in ASD and they underscore the value of microbiome-informed, disorder-specific therapeutic strategies.
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