Intestinal Microbes in Patients With Schizophrenia Undergoing Short-Term Treatment: Core Species Identification Based on Co-Occurrence Networks and Regression Analysis

Abstract

Schizophrenia, a common mental disorder, has a tremendous impact on the health and economy of people worldwide. Evidence suggests that the microbial-gut-brain axis is an important pathway for the interaction between the gut microbiome and the development of schizophrenia. What is not clear is how changes in the gut microbiota composition and structure during antipsychotic treatment improve the symptoms of schizophrenia. In this study, 25 patients with schizophrenia were recruited. Their fecal samples were collected before and after hospital treatment for 14–19 days. The composition and structure of the intestinal microbiota were evaluated by 16S rRNA sequencing analysis, and the results showed significant differences in fecal microbiota before and after treatment. Firmicutes (relative abundances of 82.60 and 86.64%) and Gemminger (relative abundances of 14.17 and 13.57%) were the first dominant species at the phylum and genus levels, respectively. The random forest algorithm and co-occurrence network analysis demonstrated that intestinal flora (especially the core species ASV57) could be used as biomarkers to distinguish different clinical states and match treatment regimens accordingly. In addition, after fecal microbiota transplantation, antibiotic-treated recipient mice showed multiple behavioral improvements. These included decreased psychomotor hyperactivity, increased social interaction, and memory. In conclusion, this study suggests that differences in the composition and structure of gut microbiota after treatment are associated with the development and severity of schizophrenia. Results may provide a potential target for the treatment of this disorder.

Effect of Human Infant Gut Microbiota on Mouse Behavior, Dendritic Complexity, and Myelination

“…This suggests that gut microbes play a role in vulnerability to neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders like schizophrenia and autism, where these processes and domains are often disrupted. This hypothesis is further supported by numerous studies showing significant differences in individuals' microbial communities with and without these conditions (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).…”

“…Infancy is an important period in the assembly and maturation of the gut microbiome. At birth, the human infants born vaginally have guts with a low abundance lowly diverse microbial community reflective of the mother's vaginal and fecal microbiota, then progresses through three phases: a developmental phase (months 0-14), a transitional phase (months [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], and a stable phase (30 months and beyond) (18). Mother-to-infant microbial transmission plays a key role in this process with the maternal gut microbiome being a key donor of infant-acquired strains (19,20).…”