Structural changes of gut microbiota in Parkinson’s disease and its correlation with clinical features

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the structure of gut microbiota in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and healthy controls; and to explore correlations between gut microbiota and PD clinical features. We analyzed fecal bacterial composition of 24 PD patients and 14 healthy volunteers by using 16S rRNA sequencing. There were significant differences between PD and healthy controls, as well as among different PD stages. The putative cellulose degrading bacteria from the genera Blautia (P=0.018), Faecalibacterium (P=0.048) and Ruminococcus (P=0.019) were significantly decreased in PD compared to healthy controls. The putative pathobionts from the genera Escherichia-Shigella (P=0.038), Streptococcus (P=0.01), Proteus (P=0.022), and Enterococcus (P=0.006) were significantly increased in PD subjects. Correlation analysis indicated that disease severity and PD duration negatively correlated with the putative cellulose degraders, and positively correlated with the putative pathobionts. The results suggest that structural changes of gut microbiota in PD are characterized by the decreases of putative cellulose degraders and the increases of putative pathobionts, which may potentially reduce the production of short chain fatty acids, and produce more endotoxins and neurotoxins; and these changes is potentially associated with the development of PD pathology.

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

“…In contrast to Prevotellaceae, Verrucomicrobiaceae was found to be enriched in four studies . Other reproducible findings were increased abundance of Lactobacillaceae, only refuted by the Unger and colleagues study, and reduced abundance of Lachnospiraceae …”

“…In addition, fewer studies detected significant reduced levels of Pasteurellaceae, as well as increased levels of Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcaceae in fecal samples of PD patients, although the abundance of the latter was reduced in the Unger and colleagues study . Only Heintz‐Buschart and colleagues showed a significantly lower abundance of Ruminococcaceae, together with a remarkable, but not significant, lower abundance in the Li and colleagues study . In contrast, two studies observed a significant enrichment of Ruminococcaceae .…”

“…Recently, Johnson and colleagues published a study about GM alteration in a rotenone‐induced rat model of PD . Consistently with the studies aforementioned, lower levels of Prevotellaceae and Lachnospiraceae were reported in these rotenone rats, as well as lower levels of Ruminococcaceae levels, which still does not enlighten the ambiguous findings regarding the abundance of Ruminococcaceae across the studies concerned (Supporting Information Table S2).…”

“…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.…”

“…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).…”