Microbial Profiles of Patients With Antipsychotic-Related Constipation Treated With Electroacupuncture

Abstract

Antipsychotic-related constipation (APRC) is one of the most common side effects of taking antipsychotic medication. APRC can seriously impact patient quality of life and is potentially fatal, though the efficacy of current APRC treatments is low for most patients. In this study, we conducted a controlled, pilot randomized, sham-electroacupuncture (SEA) study to assess the efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA) in patients with APRC. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to assess the microbial profiles of these patients and analyze how EA treatments affected their bacteria.Methods: We treated 133 APRC patients with randomly assigned EA treatments or SEA treatments for 4 consecutive weeks, fully evaluating the patients 8 weeks after treatment. The participants, outcome assessors, and statistics were all blind to the EA and SEA treatments. Outcomes assessed included changes in spontaneous bowel movements (SBMs) and the frequency of rescue measures. We detected assessed the microbial diversity of stool specimens both before and after EA treatment using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.Results: Both EA and SEA treatments reduced the need for constipation rescue measures and did not have serious side effects. EA treatments were better than SEA treatments at increasing SBMs and reducing rescue measures. The diversity of gut microbiota changed after EA treatment. LEfSe analysis indicated changes in the genus (belonging to phylum Proteobacteria) of gut microbiota in patients following EA treatment.Conclusions: This study found that EA treatment is effective and safe for patients with APRC, and could be associated with changes in their microbial profiles. Further study, with larger sample sizes, is needed to explore the efficacy of EA intervention as a clinical treatment for APRC.Trial Registration: ChiCTR, ChiCTR-ONC-17010842, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=18420.

Evaluation of the Enzymatic Production and Prebiotic Activity of Galactomannan Oligosaccharides Derived from Gleditsia microphylla

“…The effect of GM on Parabacteroides was greater than that on GMOS. Parabacteroides have the ability to metabolize carbohydrates and produce SCFAs [35], and have beneficial effects on metabolic disorders [36,37]. However, it is debatable whether Parabacteroides are beneficial or pathogenic.…”

Non-drug interventions of traditional Chinese medicine in preventing type 2 diabetes: a review

“…Acupuncture, as one of the TCM therapy methods, has been found to modulate the composition of intestinal flora in the progression of treating some diseases. [164][165][166]. Although there were few clinical trials exploring the mechanism of acupuncture in the management of diabetes from the perspective of intestinal flora, animal tests have manifested electroacupuncture was beneficial in increasing the diversity of gut flora and promoting colonic motility, which may be used to explain its hypoglycemic mechanism.…”

Acupuncture as multi-targeted therapy for the multifactorial disease obesity: a complex neuro-endocrine-immune interplay

“…As described previously, some evidence in animal models of acupuncture on obesity and modulation of gut microbiota composition is presented. In humans, the evidence is still scarce but emerging changes in species abundance and diversity of the gut microbiome have been documented in patients undergoing treatment with EA ( 49 , 53 , 198 ). In perimenopausal women with abdominal obesity, EA for eight weeks in combination with diet decreased the abundance of the species and increased the species diversity of gut microbiota ( 49 ).…”

“…A recent sham-controlled study in adults with antipsychotic-related constipation treated with EA showed that richness of various bacterial strains such as Klebsiella and Gammaproteobacteria was significantly higher after acupuncture, and was associated with significantly increased spontaneous bowel movements and reduced use of rescue medication. Moreover, Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio was increased post-treatment ( 198 ). In a population of patients with knee osteoarthritis, eight weeks of EA modified gut microbiota diversity and microbiota richness of species ( 53 ).…”