Recent research has highlighted the potential role of Helicobacter pylori in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. In this experimental study, researchers used mice to explore whether combining amitriptyline with H. pylori eradication therapy produced greater benefits than either treatment alone.
Male mice were firstly allocated into four groups: healthy controls, H. pylori-infected mice, mice receiving antidepressant treatment only, and mice receiving both antidepressant and eradication therapy.
The initial findings confirmed that H. pylori infection induced depression-like behaviors in mice. In addition, while the use of antidepressants alone slightly improved these depression-like behaviors, it was the combination of antidepressants and bacterial eradication therapy that induced a more significant improvement in these symptoms. The combined treatment also appears to have led to an improvement in the psychomotor function of the animals.
Inflammatory cytokines (e.g., interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)) are usually released in response to Helicobacter colonization and tissue damage, leading to a chronic state of inflammation, but are also associated with depression-like behaviors in humans and animal models, behaviors that have been shown to be attenuated by the use of antidepressants. In this study, researchers found that not only was H. pylori infection associated with changes in inflammatory cytokine levels, but that these alterations were partially reversed when both therapies were used together.
Overall, the findings suggest that targeting both infection and mood symptoms simultaneously may offer enhanced behavioral and anti-inflammatory benefits compared to isolated treatment approaches.
Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114552
Reference
Miao Xu and Hua Fan, “Investigating the synergistic effects of amitriptyline and H. pylori eradication on depressive-like behaviors and inflammatory cytokines in mice”, Physiology & Behavior, Volume 281, 1 July 2024, 114552