Bacteriophages in Gut May Help Regulate Stress

 Bacteriophages in Gut May Help Regulate Stress

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/05/viruses-living-human-gut-help-regulate-stress-study 

A new Ireland study indicates that some of the bacteriophages living in guts help regulate and control stress-induced issues in our bodies. (As a side note, bacteriophages are a type of virus that infect bacteria). The study placed mice in socially stressful situations such as overcrowded living. Then, they took bacteriophages from normal, unstressed mice, and transplanted them into the stressed mice, which reduced the levels of their stress hormones. More research needs to be done to see whether this has the same effect on humans, but it’s interesting to consider the connection between gut viruses and anxiety/stress/depression.

-LL