00:00in recent years we've been finding out more and more about how our gut microbiome affects our
00:08overall physical and even mental health there's been a growing body of evidence to support this
00:13but now researchers from Wuhan University say they've identified the exact enzyme which could
00:17contribute to depression estradiol or rather the lack of the hormone has long been linked
00:22to depression imbalances in the hormone can be attributed to several specific medical conditions
00:26in women and depression is often a symptom that becomes present so researchers added estradiol
00:31to fecal samples from women who are known to have depression finding that in just two hours the
00:36estradiol levels would plummet by 78 percent for comparison the women who were not depressed
00:41showed only a 25 percent decrease in those hormone levels this allowed scientists to isolate the
00:46culprit a bacteria called klebsiella aerogenes ts 2020 that's because the bacteria has an innate
00:52ability to produce a specific enzyme which allows it to convert estradiol into estrone with the
00:57researchers writing that this could change treatment options for depression forever writing in the paper
01:02quote estradiol degrading bacteria in the gut particularly the enzymes expressed by these
01:07bacteria may be better targets for intervention
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