Fig. 5

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from children and adolescents with MDD-induceddepressive-like behaviors in adolescent rats accompanied by AAs deficiency in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). A The experiment schedule of the antibiotic-treated (Abx), FMT and behavioral tests. B Lower sucrose preference in sucrose preference test (SPT, left) and higher immobility time in forced swim test (FST, right) was found in FMT_MDD (n = 12) than FMT_HCs (n = 12). Significance was calculated by t-test. C The abundances of amino acids in prefrontal cortex of FMT_MDD (n = 8) were significantly lower than FMT_HCs (n = 8), and most of the abundances of amino acids were positively correlated with sucrose preference by Spearman correlation analysis. D The down-regulated amino acids (AAs) in plasma of children and adolescents with MDD overlapped with most of the down-regulated AAs in PFC of rats in FMT_MDD group