Gut Microbiota Differs Between Parkinson’s Disease Patients and Healthy Controls in Northeast China

Abstract

Background : There is accumulating evidence suggesting a connection between the gut and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Gut microbiota may play an important role in the intestinal lesions in PD patients. Objective : This study aims to determine whether gut microbiota differs between PD patients and healthy controls in Northeast of China, and to identify the factors that influence the changes in the gut microbiota. Methods : We enrolled 51 PD patients and 48 healthy controls in this study. Microbial species in stool samples were determined through 16S-rRNA gene sequencing. Dietary intakes were collected from a subset of 42 patients and 23 controls using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Gut microbiota species richness, diversity, differential abundance of individual taxa between PD patients and controls, and the relationship between the gut microbiota abundance and the dietary and clinical factors were analyzed. Results : PD patients showed decreased species richness, phylogenetic diversity, β- diversity, and altered relative abundance in several taxa compared to the controls. PD- associated clinical scores appeared to be the most influential factors that correlated with the abundance of a variety of taxa. The most consistent findings suggested by multiple analyses used in this study were the increase of Akkermansia and the decrease of Lactobacillus in PD patients in Northeast China. Conclusion : Gut microbiota significantly differed between a group of PD patients and healthy controls in Northeast China, with decreased species richness, phylogenetic diversity, β-diversity, and altered relative abundance in several taxa compared to the controls.

Current Perspectives on Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis and Depression

“…The microbiota-gut-brain axis is believed to modulate various central processes through the vagus nerve as well as production of microbial metabolites and immune mediators which trigger changes in neurotransmission, neuroinflammation, and behavior [2][3][4][5]. Disruptions to the gut microbiome have been correlated with several neuropsychiatric disorders, including Parkinson's disease, autism, schizophrenia, and depression [6][7][8][9]. The exact mechanism by which the gut microbiota causes or alters neuropsychiatric disease states is not fully understood.…”

Meta‐Analysis of Gut Dysbiosis in Parkinson's Disease

“…31 Sixth, fecal transplantation of PD patients worsens motor deficits and constipation in a germ-free PD mouse model compared with fecal transplantation of normal subjects. 31 Gut microbiota in PD has been addressed in 16 original articles and one abstract (Supporting Information Table S1) 27,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and also has been reviewed. 3,48,49 Gut microbiota, however, differ from country to country in composition even among normal subjects, 50 which makes it difficult to compare PD and controls across countries.…”

Characterizing dysbiosis of gut microbiome in PD: Evidence for overabundance of opportunistic pathogens

“…animal models. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Every study that has compared the global composition of the gut microbiome in PD vs. controls found it to be significantly altered; in contrast, attempts to identify PD-associated microorganisms have produced inconsistent results. 31,32 Low reproducibility has been attributed to small sample sizes (missing true associations due to low power), relaxed statistical thresholds (inflating false positive results), and publishing without a replication dataset (required for genomic studies).…”

“…Results were in agreement with population studies in detecting significant effects of sex, age, BMI, gastrointestinal issues and diet on the microbiome, 33,34 and with other PD studies in detecting evidence for dysbiosis in PD. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]…”