-
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2023Rotavirus (RV) is one of the most common pathogens causing diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide. Routinely, antiviral therapy, intestinal mucosa protection,...
Characterization of changes in the intestinal microbiome following combination therapy with zinc preparation and conventional treatment for children with rotavirus enteritis.
BACKGROUND
Rotavirus (RV) is one of the most common pathogens causing diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide. Routinely, antiviral therapy, intestinal mucosa protection, and fluid supplementation are used in clinic, however this is not efficacious in some severe cases. Zinc supplementation has previously been shown to improve resolution of symptoms from infectious diarrhea.
METHODS
In this study differences in response rate, duration of hyperthermia, vomiting, and diarrhea, and the persistence time of cough and lung rales in groups were compared. 16SrDNA gene sequencing technology was used to analyze and compare changes in the intestinal microflora of children with RV enteritis who received the conventional treatment with or without the zinc preparation. In addition, the correlations between the differential bacterial species and the related inflammatory factors were determined.
RESULTS
Conventional therapy combined with the zinc preparation significantly shortened the duration of hyperthermia, vomiting, and diarrhea compared with the conventional treatment alone. In addition, the time to symptom relief showed that the absorption time of cough and lung rales was significantly shorter in the combination treatment group than that in the conventional treatment group in the children with pneumonia. Further, compared with the conventional treatment, the combined treatment significantly increased the diversity and abundances of florae as compared with the conventional treatment. This combination therapy containing zinc preparation markedly increased the abundances of Faecalibacterium, Bacteroidales, Ruminoccoccoccus, and Lachnospiraceae at the genus level. The LEfSe analysis suggested that were most significantly altered after the combination therapy. In addition, a correlation analysis revealed significantly negative correlations between the inflammatory factors especially IL-6, TNF-a, CRP and some intestinal florae such as , and
CONCLUSION
Compared with the conventional therapy alone, the combined therapy with the zinc preparation significantly improves symptoms caused by RV. The combination therapy containing the zinc preparation significantly increases the diversity and abundances of some beneficial groups of bacteria. Further, The presence of these groups was further negatively correlated with relevant inflammatory factors. More importantly, this combination therapy containing the zinc preparation provides a reference for the clinical management of children with RV enteritis.
Topics: Infant; Humans; Child; Child, Preschool; Rotavirus; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Cough; Respiratory Sounds; Rotavirus Infections; Enteritis; Diarrhea; Zinc; Vomiting
PubMed: 37842003
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1153701 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jul 2023Microbiome analyses are essential for understanding microorganism composition and diversity, but interpretation is often challenging due to biological and technical...
Microbiome analyses are essential for understanding microorganism composition and diversity, but interpretation is often challenging due to biological and technical variables. DNA extraction is a critical step that can significantly bias results, particularly in samples containing a high abundance of challenging-to-lyse microorganisms. Taking into consideration the distinctive microenvironments observed in different bodily locations, our study sought to assess the extent of bias introduced by suboptimal bead-beating during DNA extraction across diverse clinical sample types. The question was whether complex targeted extraction methods are always necessary for reliable taxonomic abundance estimation through amplicon sequencing or if simpler alternatives are effective for some sample types. Hence, for four different clinical sample types (stool, cervical swab, skin swab, and hospital surface swab samples), we compared the results achieved from extracting targeted manual protocols routinely used in our research lab for each sample type with automated protocols specifically not designed for that purpose. Unsurprisingly, we found that for the stool samples, manual extraction protocols with vigorous bead-beating were necessary in order to avoid erroneous taxa proportions on all investigated taxonomic levels and, in particular, false under- or overrepresentation of important genera such as and However, interestingly, we found that the skin and cervical swab samples had similar results with all tested protocols. Our results suggest that the level of practical automation largely depends on the expected microenvironment, with skin and cervical swabs being much easier to process than stool samples. Prudent consideration is necessary when extending the conclusions of this study to applications beyond rough estimations of taxonomic abundance.
Topics: DNA, Bacterial; Metagenomics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; DNA
PubMed: 37511022
DOI: 10.3390/ijms241411262 -
Food & Nutrition Research 2023The relationship between fruit, whole grain, and total energy consumption and the gut microbiome in the Chinese population remains unclear.
BACKGROUND
The relationship between fruit, whole grain, and total energy consumption and the gut microbiome in the Chinese population remains unclear.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the relationship between intakes of fruits, whole grains, and energy, and the diversity and composition of gut microbiota.
DESIGN
This cross-sectional study included 167 subjects aged 40-75 years who underwent colonoscopy at Nankai Hospital in Tianjin, China. Each of the participants completed a personal history questionnaire, a 7-day dietary record, and donated a fecal sample. The V3-V4 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S rRNAgene was amplified and sequenced using Illumina Novaseq. The relationship between diet and gut microbiota was evaluated in terms of both the overall composition and the abundance of specific taxon.
RESULTS
Fruits intake was positively related to the abundance of Bacilli, Porphyromonadaceae, Streptococcaceae, , and Bilophila in fecal samples. Higher whole grains intake was associated with higher microbial diversity, as measured by Shannon, Simpson, and Chao1 indices. Specifically, there was a significant increase inthe relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae and a decrease in Actinobacteria with increased whole grains intake. Moreover, higher intake of total energy was associated with a lower abundance of and a higher abundance of Lactobacillales and .
CONCLUSION
Whole grains intake was positively associated with gut microbial diversity. Fruits and total energy intake were related to the abundance of specifictaxon (e.g., Bacilli and Acidaminococcus). These findings highlight the potential importance of dietary interventions for modulating gut microbiota composition and promoting overall health.
PubMed: 38084154
DOI: 10.29219/fnr.v67.9725 -
BMC Cardiovascular Disorders Mar 2024Recent studies have indicated an association between intestinal flora and lipids. However, observational studies cannot indicate causality. In this study, we aimed to...
AIMS
Recent studies have indicated an association between intestinal flora and lipids. However, observational studies cannot indicate causality. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potentially causal relationships between the intestinal flora and blood lipids.
METHODS
We performed a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal relationship between intestinal flora and blood lipids. Summary statistics of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for the 211 intestinal flora and blood lipid traits (n = 5) were obtained from public datasets. Five recognized MR methods were applied to assess the causal relationship with lipids, among which, the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression was used as the primary MR method. A series of sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the causal estimates.
RESULTS
The results indicated a potential causal association between 19 intestinal flora and dyslipidemia in humans. Genus Ruminococcaceae, Christensenellaceae, Parasutterella, Terrisporobacter, Parabacteroides, Class Erysipelotrichia, Family Erysipelotrichaceae, and order Erysipelotrichales were associated with higher dyslipidemia, whereas genus Oscillospira, Peptococcus, Ruminococcaceae UCG010, Ruminococcaceae UCG011, Dorea, and Family Desulfovibrionaceae were associated with lower dyslipidemia. After using the Bonferroni method for multiple testing correction, Only Desulfovibrionaceae [Estimate = -0.0418, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.9362-0.9826, P = 0.0007] exhibited stable and significant negative associations with ApoB levels. The inverse MR analysis did not find a significant causal effect of lipids on the intestinal flora. Additionally, no significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy for IVs was observed in the analysis.
CONCLUSION
The study suggested a causal relationship between intestinal flora and dyslipidemia. These findings will provide a meaningful reference to discover dyslipidemia for intervention to address the problems in the clinic.
Topics: Humans; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Genome-Wide Association Study; Mendelian Randomization Analysis; Atherosclerosis; Dyslipidemias
PubMed: 38431594
DOI: 10.1186/s12872-024-03804-3 -
The Journals of Gerontology. Series A,... Apr 2024Aging entails changes at the cellular level that increase the risk of various pathologies. An association between gut microbiota and age-related diseases has also been...
Aging entails changes at the cellular level that increase the risk of various pathologies. An association between gut microbiota and age-related diseases has also been attributed. This study aims to analyze changes in fecal microbiota composition and their association with genes related to immune response, gut inflammation, and intestinal barrier impairment. Fecal samples of female mice at different ages (2 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months) and gene expression in colon tissue were analyzed. Results showed that the older mice group had a more diverse microbiota than the younger group. Additionally, the abundance of Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Flavobacteriaceae, Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Prevotellaceae_UCG-001, Akkermansia, and Parabacteroides goldsteinii increased with age. In contrast, there was a notable decline in Clostridiaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Monoglobaceae, Ligilactobacillus, Limosilactobacillus, Mucispirillum, and Bacteroides faecichinchillae. These bacteria imbalances were positively correlated with increased inflammation markers in the colon, including Tnf-α, Ccl2, and Ccl12, and negatively with the expression of tight junction genes (Jam2, Tjp1, and Tjp2), as well as immune response genes (Cd4, Cd72, Tlr7, Tlr12, and Lbp). In conclusion, high levels of diversity did not result in improved health in older mice; however, the imbalance in bacteria abundance that occurs with aging might contribute to immune senescence, inflammation, and leaky gut disease.
Topics: Mice; Female; Animals; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Intestinal Barrier Function; Inflammation; Bacteria; Immunity; Aging; Mice, Inbred C57BL
PubMed: 38364863
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glae045 -
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Apr 2024Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, fibroinflammatory, cholestatic liver disease of unknown etiopathogenesis, often associated with inflammatory bowel...
BACKGROUND
Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, fibroinflammatory, cholestatic liver disease of unknown etiopathogenesis, often associated with inflammatory bowel diseases. Recent evidence ascribes, together with immunologic and environmental components, a significant role to the intestinal microbiota or its molecules in the PSC pathogenesis.
METHODS
By metagenomic sequencing of 16S rRNA and ITS2 loci, we describe the fecal microbiota and mycobiota of 26 pediatric patients affected by PSC and concomitant ulcerative colitis (PSC-UC), 27 patients without PSC but with UC (UC), and 26 healthy subjects (CTRLs).
RESULTS
Compared with CTRL, the bacterial and fungal gut dysbiosis was evident for both PSC-UC and UC groups; in particular, Streptococcus, Saccharomyces, Sporobolomyces, Tilletiopsis, and Debaryomyces appeared increased in PSC-UC, whereas Klebsiella, Haemophilus, Enterococcus Collinsella, Piptoporus, Candida, and Hyphodontia in UC. In both patient groups, Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Oscillospira, Meyerozyma and Malassezia were decreased. Co-occurrence analysis evidenced the lowest number of nodes and edges for fungi networks compared with bacteria. Finally, we identified a specific patient profile, based on liver function tests, bacterial and fungal signatures, that is able to distinguish PSC-UC from UC patients.
CONCLUSIONS
We describe the gut microbiota and mycobiota dysbiosis associated to PSC-UC disease. Our results evidenced a gut imbalance, with the reduction of gut commensal microorganisms with stated anti-inflammatory properties (ie, Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Oscillospira, Meyerozyma, and Malassezia) and the increase of pathobionts (ie, Streptococcus, Saccharomyces, and Debaryomyces) that could be involved in PSC progression. Altogether, these events may concur in the pathophysiology of PSC in the framework of UC.
Topics: Humans; Child; Colitis, Ulcerative; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Cholangitis, Sclerosing; Dysbiosis; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Bacteria; Bacteroidetes; Italy
PubMed: 37696680
DOI: 10.1093/ibd/izad203 -
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience 2024Patients who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) often experience chronic and sometimes debilitating sequelae. Recent reports have illustrated both acute and long-term...
INTRODUCTION
Patients who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) often experience chronic and sometimes debilitating sequelae. Recent reports have illustrated both acute and long-term dysbiosis of the gastrointestinal microbiome with significant alterations in composition and predicted functional consequences.
METHODS
Working with participants from past research, metagenomic stability of the TBI- associated fecal microbiome (FMB) was evaluated by custom qPCR array comparing a fecal sample from 2015 to one collected in 2020. Metatranscriptomics identified differently expressed bacterial genes and biochemical pathways in the TBI FMB. Microbiota that contributed the largest RNA amounts identified a set of core bacteria most responsible for functional consequences of the TBI FMB.
RESULTS
A remarkably stable FMB metagenome with significant similarity (two-tail Spearman nonparametric correlation < 0.001) was observed between 2015 and 2020 fecal samples from subjects with TBI. Comparing the 2020 TBI FMB metagenome to FMBs from healthy controls confirmed and extended the dysbiotic genera and species. Abundance differences between average TBI and healthy FMBs revealed . spp., spp., spp., and Ordoribacter spp. were significantly different. Functionally, the genus contributed the highest percentage of RNA sequences in control FMBs followed by the genus as the second highest contributor. In the TBI FMB, the genus contributed the most RNA followed by the genus. and were distinct in the top 10 contributing genera in the TBI FMB while and were unique to the top 10 in controls. Comparing RNA profiles, TBI samples had ∼1.5 fold more expressed genes with almost 700 differently expressed genes (DEGs) mapped to over 100 bacterial species. Bioinformatic analysis associated DEGs with pathways led identifying 311 functions in the average TBI FMB profile and 264 in the controls. By average profile comparison, 30 pathways had significantly different abundance ( < 0.05, -test) or were detected in >80% of the samples in only one of the cohorts (binary distinction).
DISCUSSION
Functional differences between TBI and healthy control FMBs included amino acid metabolism, energy and carbon source usage, fatty acid metabolism, bacterial cell wall component production and nucleic acid synthesis and processing pathways. Together these data shed light on the functional consequences of the dysbiotic TBI FMB decades after injury.
PubMed: 38544523
DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1341808 -
Frontiers in Endocrinology 2023Research findings of the past decade have highlighted the gut as the main site of action of the oral antihyperglycemic agent metformin despite its pharmacological role...
INTRODUCTION
Research findings of the past decade have highlighted the gut as the main site of action of the oral antihyperglycemic agent metformin despite its pharmacological role in the liver. Extensive evidence supports metformin's modulatory effect on the composition and function of gut microbiota, nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms of the host responses remain elusive. Our study aimed to evaluate metformin-induced alterations in the intestinal transcriptome profiles at different metabolic states.
METHODS
The high-fat diet-induced mouse model of obesity and insulin resistance of both sexes was developed in a randomized block experiment and bulk RNA-Seq of the ileum tissue was the method of choice for comparative transcriptional profiling after metformin intervention for ten weeks.
RESULTS
We found a prominent transcriptional effect of the diet itself with comparatively fewer genes responding to metformin intervention. The overrepresentation of immune-related genes was observed, including pronounced metformin-induced upregulation of immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable region coding gene in both high-fat diet and control diet-fed animals. Moreover, we provide evidence of the downregulation NF-kappa B signaling pathway in the small intestine of both obese and insulin-resistant animals as well as control animals after metformin treatment. Finally, our data pinpoint the gut microbiota as a crucial component in the metformin-mediated downregulation of NF-kappa B signaling evidenced by a positive correlation between the and gene expression levels and abundances of , ., and . in the gut microbiota of the same animals.
DISCUSSION
Our study supports the immunomodulatory effect of metformin in the ileum of obese and insulin-resistant C57BL/6N mice contributed by intestinal immunoglobulin responses, with a prominent emphasis on the downregulation of NF-kappa B signaling pathway, associated with alterations in the composition of the gut microbiome.
Topics: Male; Animals; Mice; Female; Metformin; Diet, High-Fat; Insulin Resistance; NF-kappa B; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Obesity; Insulin; Disease Models, Animal; Immune System; Signal Transduction; Immunoglobulins
PubMed: 37795356
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1232143 -
International Journal of Ophthalmology 2024To explore the correlation of gut microbiota and the metabolites with the progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and provide a novel strategy to elucidate the...
AIM
To explore the correlation of gut microbiota and the metabolites with the progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and provide a novel strategy to elucidate the pathological mechanism of DR.
METHODS
The fecal samples from 32 type 2 diabetes patients with proliferative retinopathy (PDR), 23 with non-proliferative retinopathy (NPDR), 27 without retinopathy (DM), and 29 from the sex-, age- and BMI- matched healthy controls (29 HC) were analyzed by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Sixty fecal samples from PDR, DM, and HC groups were assayed by untargeted metabolomics. Fecal metabolites were measured using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. Associations between gut microbiota and fecal metabolites were analyzed.
RESULTS
A cluster of 2 microbiome and 12 metabolites accompanied with the severity of DR, and the close correlation of the disease progression with PDR-related microbiome and metabolites were found. To be specific, the structure of gut microbiota differed in four groups. Diversity and richness of gut microbiota were significantly lower in PDR and NPDR groups, than those in DM and HC groups. A cluster of microbiome enriched in PDR group, including , , , , was observed. Functional analysis showed that the glucose and nicotinate degradations were significantly higher in PDR group than those in HC group. Arginine, serine, ornithine, and arachidonic acid were significantly enriched in PDR group, while proline was enriched in HC group. Functional analysis illustrated that arginine biosynthesis, lysine degradation, histidine catabolism, central carbon catabolism in cancer, D-arginine and D-ornithine catabolism were elevated in PDR group. Correlation analysis revealed that and were positively associated with L-arginine, ornithine levels in fecal samples.
CONCLUSION
This study elaborates the different microbiota structure in the gut from four groups. The relative abundance of and are associated with the severity of DR. Amino acid and fatty acid catabolism is especially disordered in PDR group. This may help provide a novel diagnostic parameter for DR, especially PDR.
PubMed: 38766339
DOI: 10.18240/ijo.2024.05.13 -
Microorganisms Oct 2023The gut microbiome is a versatile system regulating numerous aspects of host metabolism. Among other traits, variations in the composition of gut microbial communities...
The gut microbiome is a versatile system regulating numerous aspects of host metabolism. Among other traits, variations in the composition of gut microbial communities are related to blood lipid patterns and hyperlipidaemia, yet inconsistent association patterns exist. This study aims to assess the relationships between the composition of the gut microbiome and variations in lipid profiles among healthy adults. This study used data and samples from 23 adult participants of a previously conducted dietary intervention study. Circulating lipid measurements and whole-metagenome sequences of the gut microbiome were derived from 180 blood and faecal samples collected from eight visits distributed across an 11-week study. Lipid-related variables explained approximately 4.5% of the variation in gut microbiome compositions, with higher effects observed for total cholesterol and high-density lipoproteins. Species from the genera , , and correlated with increased serum lipid levels, whereas probiotic species like were more abundant among participants with healthier blood lipid profiles. An inverse correlation with serum cholesterol was also observed for , a player in regulating lipid turnover. The observed correlation patterns add to the growing evidence supporting the role of the gut microbiome as an essential regulator of host lipid metabolism.
PubMed: 38004667
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11112656