Abstract
Background: Studies have shown that gut microbiota may be involved in the occurrence and progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). Nevertheless, the alterations in fecal microbiome in PD patients from Central China have not been previously investigated, and the way in which these microbes influence PD remain unclear.Methods: We performed metagenomic shotgun analyses to investigate the gut microbiota composition of 46 Central China PD patients and their healthy spouses. The relationships between microbiota and PD clinical features were analyzed, and functional pathways were compared for further understaning the contributions of gut microbiota in PD. We also explored potential biomarker for PD diagnosis.Results: Microbial communities in the feces of PD patients were notably different from those of healthy spouses at species level. Gut microbiota of patients was characterized by depletion of Subdoligranulum_unclassified and Prevotella_copri, while the Bacteroides_stercoris and Escherichia_coli were markedly elevated. Correlation analysis found that most identified species were negatively correlated with disease clinical features. In particular, Prevotella_copri was negatively correlated with age, H-Y stage, UPDRS total score and UPDRS Ⅲ score. Random forest model indicated that 6 species including Prevotella_copri had good predictive value for disease. Functional analyses of the metagenomes revealed differences in microbiota metabolism. Pathways associated with superpathway of thiamin diphosphate biosynthesis, 4-aminobutanoate degradation, glucose-1-phosphate degradation and methylphosphonate degradation were significant increase in patients, while pathways associated with aromatic amino acid biosynthesis, chorismate biosynthesis, thiamin formation and pyrimidine deoxyribonucleosides salvage were significantly decrease. Functional pathways of Prevotella_copri were mainly concentrated in UMP biosynthesis, S-adenosyl-L-methionine cycle and guanosine ribonucleotides de novo biosynthesis. Conclusion: This study revealed the differences of gut microbiota between PD patients and their healthy spouses. Altered microbiota had correlation with the clinical characteristics of the disease, and maybe used as potential biomarkers for disease status prediction. We also observed differenct functional pathways of gut microbiota in PD patients,which may help to reveal the mechanism of disease occurrence and progression.
Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 in Patients with De Novo, Drug Naïve Parkinson’s Disease: A Meta-Analysis
