Divine Aleru, Microbiome Signatures Research Coordinator

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (MDD) significantly impairs women’s lives due to abnormal sensitivity to hormonal fluctuations. Accurate diagnosis relies on prospective symptom tracking. Evidence supports SRIs and hormonal treatments as effective management strategies. Emerging therapies and multidisciplinary care models promise improved outcomes for this complex and under-recognized disorder.

Symptom-onset dosing of sertraline effectively reduces MDD symptoms, especially mood-related ones, with fewer side effects and limited drug exposure. This targeted approach offers a promising, patient-friendly alternative to continuous SRI treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

This meta-analysis identifies a significant association between smoking and increased risk of MS and MDD. Women who smoke are more likely to experience these disorders, with stronger effects in MDD.

This study highlights the significant link between tobacco consumption and the increased risk of premenstrual syndrome (MS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (MDD). Women who smoke are at higher odds of developing these disorders, with a dose-response relationship.

This study explores the gut microbiota in Japanese women with Premenstrual Syndrome (MS), finding significant differences in microbial composition and highlighting the potential role of Collinsella in MS pathophysiology.

This study explores the association between gut microbiota composition and the severity of premenstrual symptoms, suggesting a potential role for microbiome-based therapies in managing MS.

This systematic review and meta-analysis estimate the global prevalence of MS, revealing wide variations across countries and highlighting the need for standardized diagnostic approaches.

This systematic review and meta-analysis explores the effectiveness of herbal medicine and nutritional supplements in reducing MS symptoms, highlighting significant reductions in physical, mood, and behavioral symptoms.

This narrative review explores how exercise can help manage the symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome (MS), focusing on the physiological and psychological benefits of regular physical activity.

This review examines the latest insights into the etiology and treatment of Premenstrual Syndrome (MS) and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (MDD), focusing on hormonal and neurosteroid imbalances.

This review explores premenstrual syndrome (MS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (MDD), focusing on symptoms, prevalence, risk factors, and treatment options.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (MDD) is a severe mood disorder linked to hormonal and neurochemical changes. Emerging research highlights the gut microbiome’s role in symptom modulation, opening new avenues for microbiome-targeted treatments alongside traditional therapies.

Premenstrual Syndrome (MS) involves physical and emotional symptoms linked to hormonal fluctuations. Recent research highlights the role of heavy metals and gut microbiome imbalances in worsening these symptoms. Lifestyle changes, microbiome-targeted therapies, and toxin reduction show promise in effective MS management.

Probiotics are live microorganisms that offer significant health benefits when administered in adequate amounts. They primarily work by modulating the gut microbiome, supporting a balanced microbial ecosystem. Probiotics have been shown to improve gut health, modulate immune responses, and even influence metabolic and mental health disorders. With growing evidence supporting their therapeutic potential, probiotics are increasingly recognized for their role in treating conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (BS), antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AD), and even mental health conditions like depression and anxiety through their impact on the gut-brain axis.

Ginger essential oil and citral significantly reduce atherosclerotic plaques, inflammation, and harmful MAO production by modulating gut microbiota, highlighting their therapeutic potential in managing cardiovascular diseases through dietary intervention.

This review explores how essential oils and nanoparticles modulate gut microbiota, highlighting beneficial effects of oils like d-limonene and risks from nanoparticles such as silver and titanium dioxide. It emphasizes their therapeutic potential and concerns regarding gut microbiome health and systemic inflammatory impacts.

Essential oils from savory, parsley, and rosemary beneficially alter gut microbiota, reduce harmful metabolites like MAO, enhance beneficial CFAs, and significantly lower inflammatory and oxidative stress markers, highlighting their potential as nutraceutical interventions for ischemic heart disease and type-2 diabetes mellitus management.

This review explores essential oils as alternative treatments in dentistry, highlighting their efficacy against major oral pathogens. Findings emphasize their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal properties, supporting their use against oral diseases like periodontitis, dental caries, and oral candidiasis.

This review outlines how the microbiota shapes immunity, from early-life development to systemic responses, highlighting keystone species like FB and Barnesiella. It underscores therapeutic potentials in infection control and immunotherapy.

This study shows how essential oils improve broiler gut health, boost growth, and reshape microbiota, offering a natural antibiotic alternative.

What was reviewed?This review systematically evaluated the role of essential oils (Os) in improving broiler chickens’ health, gut microbiota, and production outcomes. By analyzing 158 publications, it explored the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and growth-promoting properties of Os sourced from a wide range of plants such as Origanum, Cymbopogon, Citrus, and Eucalyptus. The focus was on how […]

Boric acid is a powerful agent that not only treats infections like VC, V, and Trichomoniasis but also plays a key role in modulating the microbiome. By promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus, it helps restore microbial balance in various areas of the body, including the vagina, mouth, and skin, making it a versatile tool in microbiome-targeted therapy.

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluate the effectiveness of boric acid as a local drug delivery agent in treating periodontitis, highlighting its positive impact on periodontal health, particularly in probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level.

This review discusses the effectiveness of boric acid vaginal suppositories in treating azole-resistant vaginitis, including its benefits and limitations.

What was studied?This study investigated the in vitro efficacy of boric acid as an antiseptic agent against Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from diabetic foot infections. The research aimed to determine whether boric acid could serve as a viable alternative for local wound treatment, particularly given the rising issue of antibiotic resistance in diabetic foot infections. […]

This review analyzes clindamycin’s evidence-based use in infections, its anti-toxin benefits, and microbiome risks, especially C. difficile impact.

This review details clindamycin’s anti-inflammatory role in acne, showing its impact on C. acnes, cytokines, and immune responses beyond bacterial suppression.

What Was This review paper focuses on the scientific rationale and clinical basis for using clindamycin in treating dermatologic diseases. It details clindamycin’s antibacterial and anti-inflammatory roles, particularly its established use in acne vulgaris, folliculitis, rosacea, hidradenitis suppurativa (S), and staphylococcal infections. The authors also explore its mechanism of action, highlighting how clindamycin inhibits bacterial […]

Clindamycin is an antibiotic commonly used to treat a variety of bacterial infections, including skin, bone, joint infections, and bacterial vaginosis. Known for its ability to target Gram-positive bacteria and anaerobes, Clindamycin disrupts protein synthesis in bacteria, halting their growth. While highly effective, its impact on the gut microbiome and the potential for Clostridium difficile infections make it essential to use with caution in certain populations.

This study shows that oral probiotics significantly boost cure rates of bacterial vaginosis when used with tinidazole, restoring a healthy vaginal microbiome.

This review evaluates tinidazole’s antibacterial efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and clinical utility in anaerobic infections, highlighting its broad-spectrum activity and potential microbiome implications.

Tinidazole is a nitroimidazole antimicrobial that selectively targets anaerobic bacteria and protozoa, reshaping the gut ecosystem by depleting pathogenic anaerobes while preserving commensals. Clinically validated for giardiasis, bacterial vaginosis, and colorectal surgery prophylaxis. Its NA-disrupting and biofilm-penetrating actions reduce inflammatory triggers and create niches for healthy microbiota to rebound.

Synbiotics restore gut microbiome balance in COS, improving insulin sensitivity, reducing inflammation, and normalizing androgen levels. This validation reinforces its role as a microbiome-targeted intervention.

Probiotic supplementation addresses microbial dysbiosis and inflammatory processes in COS, improving metabolic and hormonal outcomes, thereby validating its role as an BTI.

Statins target both microbial imbalances and inflammatory mechanisms in COS. By improving gut microbial composition and metabolic parameters, statins validate the microbiome signature of COS and enhance fertility and metabolic health outcomes.

Resistant dextrin targets both metabolic and microbial imbalances in COS. It reduces fasting blood glucose, lipids, and androgens, while improving microbial composition, supporting its role as a microbiome-targeted intervention (BTI) for COS-related infertility and metabolic health.

Metformin targets both the microbiome and inflammatory mechanisms in COS, improving insulin sensitivity, reducing hyperandrogenism, and restoring ovulation. Its microbial effects validate the condition’s microbiome signature, making it a promising microbiome-targeted intervention for managing infertility in COS.

This review discusses the role of metformin in treating COS-related infertility. It highlights its effectiveness in improving ovulation, reducing insulin resistance, and managing hyperandrogenism. Metformin is recommended as a first-line treatment for non-obese women with COS-related infertility, with benefits also seen in VF and metabolic health.

This review examines the role of metformin in treating COS-related infertility, highlighting its effectiveness in improving insulin sensitivity, reducing hyperandrogenism, and restoring ovulation. Metformin serves as a first-line therapy, offering significant benefits for women with anovulatory infertility due to COS.

This review highlights the potential benefits of statin therapy in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (COS), showing improvements in metabolic dysfunction, hyperandrogenism, and cardiovascular risk factors. Statins may offer a dual benefit for COS management, though further research is needed for long-term clinical outcomes.

The study explored intermittent clomiphene citrate treatment (CT) for women with COS who were resistant to standard C treatment. CT showed an 80.8% response rate, offering an effective and safer alternative to gonadotropin therapy with no risk of HSS or multiple pregnancies.

Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound derived from Curcuma longa, and fecal microbiota transplant (MT) have shown promise in treating polycystic ovary syndrome (COS), a condition often linked with gut dysbiosis. MT, which restores a balanced microbiome, has been proposed as a strategy to alleviate symptoms of COS by modulating microbial composition and reducing inflammation.[1] Curcumin’s anti-inflammatory […]

COS is linked with higher gut inflammation, as shown by elevated fecal calprotectin. This may help guide diagnosis and treatment.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (COS) is a common endocrine disorder that affects women of reproductive age, characterized by irregular menstrual cycles, hyperandrogenism, and insulin resistance. It is often associated with metabolic dysfunctions and inflammation, leading to fertility issues and increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The study evaluates the efficacy of Irosustat, TX140, and compound 1G as alternative treatments for COS, showing improvements in metabolic and hormonal profiles, with promising results on oxidative stress and inflammation markers. These compounds offer potential advantages over current COS therapies like metformin.

This study identifies potential drug targets for COS, focusing on genes involved in insulin resistance and hormone signaling pathways. Findings could help develop more targeted treatments.

This study compared the effects of myo-inositol and metformin on insulin resistance, menstrual cycle regularity, and hyperandrogenism in women with COS. Both therapies were effective, with fewer side effects noted for myo-inositol.

This study explores the use of berberine in combination with other drugs for treating COS, highlighting its effects on insulin resistance, androgen excess, and metabolic dysfunction.

What was studied?This study investigated the potential of repurposing DA-approved drugs to treat Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (COS). Using bioinformatics tools, the authors analyzed protein-protein interactions (PIs) related to COS and explored how certain drugs could interact with these proteins to potentially mitigate the pathogenesis of the disorder. The analysis particularly focused on identifying crucial molecules […]

What was studied?This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial studied the effects of probiotic supplementation on pancreatic β-cell function and C-reactive protein (RP) levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (COS). The aim was to explore how probiotics might influence insulin sensitivity, metabolic parameters, and inflammation markers in COS, which is often associated with insulin resistance, […]

This randomized trial evaluates the effects of synbiotic supplementation on hormonal, inflammatory, and metabolic parameters in women with COS. It shows significant improvements in androgen levels, insulin sensitivity, and inflammation.

This review examines the link between COS and gut microbiota dysbiosis, highlighting how dietary and microbial interventions may improve clinical outcomes. The study underscores the potential of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics as treatments.

This study demonstrates that resistant dextrin supplementation can improve metabolic and endocrine parameters in women with COS, offering a promising alternative to traditional therapies.

This review proposes a combination of fecal microbiota transplantation (MT) and curcumin as a potential treatment for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (COS). The hypothesis suggests these therapies could restore gut eubiosis, reduce inflammation, and improve metabolic dysfunction in COS patients.

This study evaluates the therapeutic potential of fecal microbiota transplantation (MT) for treating female reproductive tract diseases, including COS, by restoring microbiota balance.

This systematic review links heavy metal exposure and trace element deficiencies to oxidative stress, inflammation, and hormonal imbalance in COS, with implications for metabolic dysfunction and gut microbiome disruption.

This study links elevated arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury levels to oxidative stress and low antioxidant defenses in COS patients, highlighting heavy metal toxicity as a key contributor to endocrine dysfunction and microbiome imbalance.

This case–control study links high copper and low molybdenum levels to metabolic, hormonal, and inflammatory changes in COS. Dietary habits influenced these levels, suggesting potential for targeted nutritional interventions.

This study found that women with COS had elevated cadmium, antimony, lead, and mercury levels, alongside reduced zinc and copper. These imbalances correlated with insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and inflammation, suggesting that metal exposure contributes to COS pathogenesis and potentially alters the gut microbiome.

This study revealed elevated serum copper and zinc, and reduced manganese and lead, in women with COS, suggesting trace element dysregulation may fuel oxidative stress and hormonal imbalance. These imbalances may also impact gut microbiota and insulin resistance.

This study shows women with COS have elevated blood lead and cadmium and reduced magnesium, calcium, and manganese—disrupting hormone levels through oxidative stress and possibly altering gut microbiota.

This meta-analysis confirms that serum copper levels are significantly elevated in women with COS. Copper may drive hormonal imbalance and oxidative stress, and could influence gut microbiota, highlighting its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target in COS management.

This study identified elevated erythrocyte nickel in obese women with COS and revealed trace element–hormone correlations linked to reproductive dysfunction. These findings point to micronutrient-driven endocrine disruption and potential gut microbiota imbalances in COS.

What was studied?This clinical study investigated the serum levels of essential macro- and microelements, specifically magnesium, copper, manganese, nickel, zinc, chromium, selenium, and vanadium, in women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (COS), both with and without concurrent pelvic inflammatory disease (ID). The primary goal was to determine whether the concentrations of these elements differed in […]

This 5-year study found significantly higher serum copper levels in women with COS, correlating with triglycerides and MI but not VF outcomes. Copper may reflect metabolic dysfunction and gut-related oxidative stress in COS.

This review connects gut and vaginal microbiome dysbiosis with COS-related inflammation, metabolic imbalance, and hormone disruption, highlighting bile acids and CFAs as key mediators and therapeutic targets.

This study reveals elevated primary and conjugated bile acids in follicular fluid of COS patients, suggesting a novel ovarian micro-environmental role in ovulation dysfunction and potential links to gut microbiota.

This study identified significant bile acid profile changes in COS patients and highlighted DCA and CA as promising biomarkers, especially when combined with testosterone. The results suggest a bile acid–androgen–microbiome axis in COS pathophysiology.

This study links the gut microbiome in COS to metabolic traits, identifying microbial shifts tied to insulin resistance and prediabetes. Specific taxa like Ruminococcaceae CG-002 and Dorea correlate with hormonal and glucose metabolism markers, highlighting the gut microbiome’s role in COS-related metabolic health.

This study links elevated conjugated primary bile acids to hyperandrogenism in COS, suggesting bile acid metabolism plays a direct role in endocrine dysfunction and opens new therapeutic perspectives for managing COS.

This study identifies a strong link between gut microbiota dysbiosis and altered serum metabolites in COS patients. Specific microbial shifts, including elevated Shigella and reduced Roseburia, correlate with lipid and energy metabolism markers, offering insights into COS-related insulin resistance and mood disturbances.

A high-fiber diet combined with acarbose improved hormonal, metabolic, and inflammatory markers in women with COS by remodeling the gut microbiota. Key microbial shifts included increases in Bifidobacterium and reductions in Bacteroides vulgatus, correlating with decreased insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism.

This meta-analysis confirms that women with COS consume significantly less dietary fiber than controls, independent of calorie intake. Reduced fiber may worsen COS via gut dysbiosis and diminished CFA production.

This review highlights how probiotic and synbiotic supplementation improves insulin resistance, inflammation, and androgen levels in obese adolescents with COS. Microbiome modulation offers a promising non-pharmacological therapy.

What was studied?This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigated the effects of co-supplementation with vitamin D and probiotics on mental health, hormonal profiles, inflammatory markers, and oxidative stress in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (COS). The study tested whether the combination of these two interventions could provide synergistic benefits in a population known to have […]

Women with COS had lower Mediterranean diet adherence and worse metabolic, inflammatory, and hormonal profiles. Poor D adherence correlated with higher testosterone, RP, and OMA-R, suggesting a microbiome-linked dietary influence on COS severity.

A ketogenic diet restored menstrual cycles and improved pregnancy rates in obese women with COS, even without metformin or ovulation induction. Findings suggest D enhances fertility through metabolic and microbiome-linked pathways beyond weight loss.

A Mediterranean/low-carb diet significantly improved insulin resistance, androgen levels, and weight in overweight COS patients. The findings suggest microbiome-mediated metabolic benefits and support clinical adoption of this dietary model over traditional low-fat diets.

What was reviewed?This overview synthesized evidence from eight systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating the effects of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics on the management of polycystic ovarian syndrome (COS). The reviews collectively evaluated randomized controlled trials (CTs) focusing on metabolic, hormonal, and inflammatory markers to clarify how microbiota-modulating interventions influence COS-related outcomes. The analysis spanned data […]

A 24-week ketogenic diet significantly reduced insulin resistance, free testosterone, and H/SH ratio in women with COS, improving fertility markers. The dietary intervention may influence gut microbiota, enhancing metabolic and hormonal outcomes.

This study reveals that low fiber and magnesium intake—not overeating or inactivity—contribute significantly to insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism in COS, with strong implications for microbiome-linked interventions.

The study explores how alterations in gut bacteria, fungi, and serum metabolites are linked to polycystic ovary syndrome (COS), revealing potential diagnostic markers and the role of hyperandrogenemia in disease development.

This study reveals significant dysbiosis of gut microbiota in women with COS, particularly in obese individuals. The altered microbial composition correlates with metabolic and hormonal imbalances, offering potential therapeutic targets for improving COS-related conditions.

This study explores the gut microbiota in women with COS and dyslipidemia, revealing significant microbial imbalances associated with lipid metabolism and hormonal dysregulation, offering potential targets for future therapies.

This study shows that gut microbiota dysbiosis in COS correlates with altered serum metabolites, including elevated PCs and reduced citric acid. Roseburia and Prevotella_9 were linked to protective metabolic profiles, while Shigella was associated with inflammation and lipid imbalance.

This study demonstrates that gut dysbiosis in COS is not just correlative but causative. MT and Lactobacillus transplantation restored hormonal balance and ovarian morphology in COS rats, confirming gut microbiota as a viable therapeutic target.

This study reveals disrupted diurnal rhythms and significant dysbiosis in the salivary microbiota of COS patients, notably elevated Fusobacterium and reduced Actinobacteria. These oral microbial patterns may influence systemic metabolic and hormonal dysregulation.

This study reveals that women with COS have altered gut fungal communities, marked by enriched Saccharomyces and depleted Aspergillus. These shifts may contribute to inflammation, metabolic stress, and endocrine disruption, highlighting fungi as critical players in COS pathophysiology.

This review links COS to gut microbiota dysbiosis, showing how PS leakage, CFA deficiency, and altered bile acids contribute to insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism. Microbiome-based therapies, including probiotics, prebiotics, and L-22, show strong promise.

This review presents COS as a multisystem disorder driven by gut dysbiosis, neuroendocrine disruption, and adipose androgen synthesis. Targeting B. vulgatus, L-22, and KR1C3 may offer novel interventions.

This review connects gut microbiota dysbiosis to insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism in COS, identifying reduced CFA producers and increased PS-producing microbes as key signatures. It supports microbiota-targeted therapies as promising treatments for metabolic and reproductive symptoms in COS.

This review introduces the OGMA theory linking gut dysbiosis and leaky gut to insulin resistance, inflammation, and hyperandrogenism in COS. It outlines a compelling rationale for microbiome-targeted therapies using prebiotics and probiotics.

This review links dysbiosis of gut and vaginal microbiota to COS pathogenesis, highlighting reduced Lactobacillus, elevated Bacteroides, and hormonal imbalance. It supports microbiome-targeted therapies like MT and probiotics as promising interventions, emphasizing the role of microbiota in regulating hormones, immunity, and metabolic function.

This Mendelian randomization study identifies a bidirectional causal link between specific gut microbes and COS. Bacilli and Burkholderiales increase COS risk, while Blautia and Cyanobacteria show protective effects. Findings reveal gut microbial signatures that may be targeted for COS treatment.

This study shows reduced gut microbiota diversity and increased ABA-producing bacteria in COS, linking microbial shifts to elevated H levels and supporting a gut–brain axis mechanism. The findings highlight microbial contributions to neuroendocrine dysfunction and suggest therapeutic avenues through microbiome-targeted interventions.

This review explores insulin resistance as a primary driver of COS, detailing molecular signaling defects and their clinical consequences. It provides critical insight into how hyperinsulinemia fuels both metabolic dysfunction and androgen excess, reinforcing COS as a systemic endocrine-metabolic disorder, with implications for microbiome-linked disease signatures.

This review links gut microbiota disruption to the development and symptoms of COS, including insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism. It highlights microbiota-targeted therapies—like probiotics, prebiotics, and traditional medicine—as promising options to improve COS outcomes and repositions the gut microbiome as a central factor in understanding and treating the disorder.

Metronidazole is a synthetic nitroimidazole antimicrobial agent classified as a pharmaceutical antibiotic, widely used to treat anaerobic bacterial and protozoal infections. Its therapeutic application spans a range of systemic and localized conditions, including bacterial vaginosis, gastrointestinal infections, and surgical prophylaxis.[1][2][3] Due to its ability to selectively target anaerobic organisms and protozoa, metronidazole has become a […]

This study found a significant association between metronidazole use and neurologic toxicity, including encephalopathy and peripheral neuropathy, especially in older adults. Even low doses of metronidazole were linked to an increased risk of adverse events, emphasizing the need for careful monitoring and alternative therapies for high-risk patients.

This study uncovers complex mechanisms of metronidazole resistance in C. difficile, highlighting key genetic mutations and iron-dependent metabolic shifts that reduce drug efficacy. These findings inform future therapeutic strategies to address C. difficile infections.