Investigation of the Gut Microbiome in Patients with Schizophrenia and Clozapine-Induced Weight Gain: Protocol and Clinical Characteristics of First Patient Cohorts

BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests an important role of the human gut microbiome in psychiatry and neurodevelopmental disorders. An increasing body of literature based on animal studies has reported that the gut microbiome influences brain development and behavior by interacting with the gut-brain axis. Furthermore, as the gut microbiome has an important role in metabolism and is known to interact with pharmaceuticals, recent evidence …