1Department of Biochemistry, Vivekanandha College of Arts & Sciences for Women, Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India 637205
2,3Department of Computer Science Engineering, Karunya Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India 641114
4,6Department of Biotechnology, Bishop Heber College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India 620017
5Department of Microbiology, Educare Institute of Dental Sciences, Kerala, India 676504
Depression is a neuropsychiatric disorder that results from a multitude of biological and environmental determinants. In spite of the renewed interest in the gut-brain axis in modulating mental health, the specific microbial targets that have the capacity to modulate the synthesis of neurotransmitters remains limited. In particular, the majority of the research in psychobiotics has focused on the traditional probiotic genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, while the therapeutic potential of other microbial groups remains unexplored. In this regard, the present study employed a novel integration of machine learning-based analytics of available depression-related datasets from Kaggle and experimental approaches in modulating the microbiome.
Data-driven analysis has identified chronic stress, unhealthy dietary patterns, obesity, inflammation, and social isolation as key predictors of depression. All these factors have been found to have a strong association with gut microbiota dysbiosis and alterations in the gut-brain axis, which can interfere with neurotransmitter homeostasis. Experimental findings have demonstrated that phytobiotics and essential oil compounds can selectively enhance the growth of poultry gut bacteria that are responsible for the production of neurotransmitter compounds. There has been a notable connection between the newly identified bacterium, Enterococcus inesii, and the production of neuroactive compounds.
Through the bridging of human depression risk analytics with experimental approaches of microbiota enrichment, this study has provided new insights into the complex relationship between the human microbiome and neurotransmitters, and has identified Enterococcus inesii as a potential candidate for the next generation of psychobiotics, which can be used as a novel approach to therapy for mental health disorders.
Keywords: Psychobiotics; Gut microbiota; Enterococcus inesii; Neurotransmitters; Depression; Glutamate decarboxylase (GAD).
How to cite this article: Venkatesan R, Navaraj MM, David S, Soundararajan S, Navaraj SB, Ranjan J. Exploring Enterococcus inesii as a Psychobiotic Candidate for Next-Generation Mental Health Therapies. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(3): 8-17. DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.3.2
Source of support: Nil.
Conflict of interest: None