Alteration of the fecal microbiota in Chinese patients with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Emerging evidences suggest that gut microbiota dysbiosis plays a role in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the alterations in fecal microbiome in Chinese PD patients remains unknown. This case-control study was conducted to explore fecal microbiota compositions in Chinese PD patients. Microbiota communities in the feces of 45 patients and their healthy spouses were investigated using high-throughput Illumina Miseq sequencing targeting the V3-V4 region of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. The relationships between fecal microbiota and PD clinical characteristics were analyzed. The structure and richness of the fecal microbiota differed between PD patients and healthy controls. Genera Clostridium IV, Aquabacterium, Holdemania, Sphingomonas, Clostridium XVIII, Butyricicoccus and Anaerotruncus were enriched in the feces of PD patients after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and constipation. Furthermore, genera Escherichia/Shigella were negatively associated with disease duration. Genera Dorea and Phascolarctobacterium were negatively associated with levodopa equivalent doses (LED). Among the non-motor symptoms (NMSs), genera Butyricicoccus and Clostridium XlVb were associated with cognitive impairment. Overall, we confirmed that gut microbiota dysbiosis occurs in Chinese patients with PD. A well-controlled population involved was beneficial for the identification of microbiota associated with diseases. Additionally, the fecal microbiota was closely related to PD clinical characteristics. Elucidating these differences in the fecal microbiome will provide a foundation to improve our understanding the pathogenesis of PD and to support the potentially therapeutic options modifying the gut microbiota.

Gut Vibes in Parkinson's Disease: The Microbiota‐Gut‐Brain Axis

“…The severity of the disease (total or specific UPDRS scores) was positively correlated with the abundances of Enterococcus and Escherichia ‐ Shigella and negatively correlated with the abundance of Bacteroides fragilis , Bifidobacterium , Blautia , Ruminococcus , and Faecalibacterium . In line with this, Li and colleagues found a remarkable decrease of Faecalibacterium in the severe PD group compared to a lower decrease detected in the mild PD group .…”

“…It should be noted that these studies were conducted in different parts of the United States, Europe (including Western and Eastern Europe), and Asia . All studies found abnormal microbiota composition in PD compared to controls.…”

“…Besides the reproducible findings previously mentioned, the changes in the abundances of specific bacterial taxa differed among studies. For instance, Clostridiaceae, as well as several clusters and genera from this family, were increased . However, specific Clostridium species were reduced .…”

“…To date, 13 studies have described gut bacterial changes in fecal samples of PD patients, including one longitudinal study (Supporting Information Tables S1 and S2).…”

Association of suboptimal health status with intestinal microbiota in Chinese youths

“…higher in SHS individuals than in the controls, indicating that bacteria could be potential biomarkers for SHS.Several diseases can be diagnosed using intestinal microbiota.Faecal microbiota can be used to discriminate Parkinson's disease patients from controls with an AUC of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.72-0.90), a sensitivity of 75.60% and a specificity of 77.80% 61. The intestinal microbiota was also used for the diagnosis of hypertension (AUC = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.75-1.00)21 and early hepatocellular carcinoma (AUC = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.74-0.87) 62.…”