Plasma short-chain fatty acid concentrations in social anxiety disorder and changes after cognitive behavioral therapy
Wenjie Cai, Miranda Stiernborg, Alexander Wolthon, Rikard Landberg, Amirhossein Manzouri, Tomas Furmark, Catharina Lavebratt, Kristoffer N. T. Månsson · 2026
Read Plasma short-chain fatty acid concentrations in social anxiety disorder and changes after cognitive behavioral therapy by Wenjie Cai, Miranda Stiernborg, Alexander Wolthon, Rikard Landberg, Amirhossein Manzouri, Tomas Furmark, Catharina Lavebratt, Kristoffer N. T. Månsson (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13233848.txt.
Description
Wenjie Cai and colleagues issued a 2026 study linking gut microbe chemicals in the blood to social anxiety and its treatment. Short-chain fatty acids are made by gut bacteria and may carry signals to the brain. Forty-six people with social anxiety disorder completed nine weeks of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy, with blood samples before, after, and at a thirty-six month follow-up, compared against forty-two healthy controls.
Therapy reduced symptoms, and the gains held at the long follow-up. Four fatty acids, including butyric and propionic acid, rose in the blood after treatment, largely following the passage of time rather than individual differences. One acid, isobutyric acid, started lower in patients than controls. The authors offer early evidence that lasting therapy benefits may travel with shifts in microbial metabolites.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Wenjie Cai, Miranda Stiernborg, Alexander Wolthon, Rikard Landberg, Amirhossein Manzouri, Tomas Furmark, Catharina Lavebratt, Kristoffer N. T. Månsson |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 38 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |