Objective:  This study is to examine whether intestinal microbiota correlate with pathology progress of PD severity and change of gut microbiota for 2 years.

Background: As the intestinal microbiota is likely to have a marked effect on the hyperpermeability-induced oxidative stress, It may be causally associated with α-synuclein pathology in the enteric nervous system in PD. We previously reported changes in the intestinal microbiota between Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and healthy cohabitants. Hasegawa S, PLos One 2015）. 

Methods: We examined changes in gut microbiota and the serum lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) levels in two years in 36 PD patients. We also examined whether progression of PD in two years can be predicted by gut microbiota at year 0. We counted the numbers of 19 bacterial groups/genera/species by quantitative RT-PCR of bacterial 16S or 23S rRNA at years 0 and 2. We quantified clinical features by UPDRS, MMSE, and Montreal cognitive assessment at years 0 and 2.

Results: In two years, total fecal bacterial counts, Bifidobacterium, C. leptum subgroup, B. fragilis group, and Atopobium cluster were significantly decreased. The increased UPDRS1 score had a negative correlation with Bifidobacterium (r = 0.51, p < 0.05) and B. fragilis group (r = 0.53, p < 0.05). The patients were evenly divided into the “stable” and “deteriorated” groups based on worsening of the total UPDRS scores. There was no significant difference in total bacterial counts between the “stable” and “deteriorated” groups. The “deteriorated” group had lower Bifidobacterium counts [p < 0.05, after false-discovery-rate (FDR) correction]. However, Bifidobacterium counts in PD at year 0 were not different from those in controls. 

Conclusions: Our findings shed new light on microbiota, which have two roles on initiator and promotor for PD. Clostridium or SCFA productive bacteria were equally decreased in all previus reports. Bifidobacterium is thus unlikely to have an effect on development of PD, but is likely to have a protective effect on progression of PD.

References: Hasegawa, S., Goto, S., Tsuji, H., Okuno, T., Asahara, T., Nomoto, K., Shibata, A., Fujisawa, Y., Minato, T., Okamoto, A., Ohno, K. and Hirayama, M. Intestinal Dysbiosis and Lowered Serum Lipopolysaccharide-Binding Protein in Parkinson’s Disease. PloS one, 2015 10 (11):e0142164.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/two-year-prospective-study-reveals-that-gut-dysbiosis-predicts-progression-of-parkinsons-disease/