Background: Probiotics and their nutrient sources (prebiotics) have been shown to have positive effects on different organs of the host. The idea of their potential benefits on Central Nervous Systems (CNS) and the incidence of Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer, Depression, Autism, and other mental disorders has proposed a new category of medicines called “psychobiotic” which is hoped to be of low-side effect anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and anti-anxiety constitutes.

Objective: In the current review, we present valuable insights into the complicated interactions between the GI microbiota (especially in the colon), brain, immune and central nervous systems and provide a summary of the main findings of the effects of pro- and prebiotics on important mental disorders from the potential mechanisms of action to their application in clinical practice.

Methods: Google Scholar, Pub Med, Scopus, and Science Direct databases were searched using following key words: “probiotics”, “prebiotics”, “mental disorders”, “psychological disorders”, “depression”, “anxiety”, “stress”, “Alzheimer” and “autism spectrum”. The full text of potentially eligible studies was retrieved and assessed in detail by the reviewers. Data were extracted and then summarized from the selected papers.

Results: The results of the provided evidence suggest that probiotic and prebiotics might improve mental function via several mechanisms. The beneficial effects of their application in Depression, Anxiety, Alzheimer and autism spectrum diseases have also been supported in clinical studies.

Conclusion: Pro and prebiotics can improve mental health and psychological function and can be offered as new medicines for common mental disorders, however, more clinical studies are necessary to conduct regarding the clinical significance of the effects and their bioequivalence or superiority against current treatments.

背景：益生菌及其营养来源（益生元）已显示对宿主的不同器官具有积极作用。关于它们对中枢神经系统（CNS）的潜在益处以及焦虑症，精神分裂症，阿尔茨海默氏症，抑郁症，自闭症和其他精神障碍的发生率的想法，提出了一种新的药物类别，称为“精神药物”，希望该药物具有较低的副作用由抗炎，抗抑郁和抗焦虑构成。

目的：在当前的综述中，我们对胃肠道微生物群（尤其是结肠），大脑，免疫系统和中枢神经系统之间的复杂相互作用提出了宝贵的见解，并概述了益生元和益生元对胃肠道疾病的影响的主要发现。重要的精神障碍，从潜在的作用机理到在临床中的应用。

方法：使用以下关键词搜索Google Scholar，Pub Med，Scopus和Science Direct数据库：“益生菌”，“益生元”，“精神障碍”，“心理障碍”，“抑郁症”，“焦虑”，“压力” ，“阿尔茨海默氏症”和“自闭症谱系”。潜在的合格研究的全文已由审阅者检索并进行了详细评估。提取数据，然后从所选论文中进行汇总。

结果：提供的证据表明，益生菌和益生元可能通过多种机制改善精神功能。临床研究也支持了它们在抑郁症，焦虑症，阿尔茨海默氏症和自闭症谱系疾病中的有益作用。

结论：益生元和益生元可以改善心理健康和心理功能，并可以作为常见精神障碍的新药，但是，关于影响的临床意义以及它们对当前治疗方法的生物等效性或优越性，还需要进行更多的临床研究。