Objective: To determine whether the gut microbiota is altered in Turkish patients with Parkinson Disease (PD) and  the potential effect of gut microbiota on pre-motor symptoms and on PD pathogenesis.

Background: The gut microbiome of PD patients differs from that of healthy spouses in terms of bacterial diversity or taxonomic composition and aimed to investigate: (1) the gut microbiome associated with Parkinson’s disease (2) the relationships between pre-motor symptoms and microbiota.

Method: 84 subjects (42 PD patients and their 42 healthy spouses as control) participated in the study. Microbial species in stool samples was performed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We investigated whether pre-motor symptoms of PD had any relation with the alterations of the microbiota profile among our PD patients and there was a difference in microbiota between patients with and without these pre-motor symptoms in the patient group. We also evaluated whether disease duration impacts microbiota profile.

Results: We found significantly decreased Lachnospiraceae, increased Lactobacillaceae and increased Acidaminococcaceae at the family level. At the phylum level Firmicutes was significantly decreased. There was a decreased abundance of  Prevotella  and an increase in the abundance of Akkermancia but not significantly. We found a significant increase in the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae in constipated PD patients. An increased abundance of Ruminococcaceae UCG_004 and Lactobacillales and a decreased abundance of Ruminococcaceae UCG 010 and Peptococcaceae were observed in PD patients with RLS. The results showed a significant reduction in the relative abundance of Gastranaerophilales in PD patients with disease duration of more than five years. When comparing patients, there was significantly decreased levels of Eubacterium ventriosum group and increased levels of Prevotellaceae in anosmic PD patients. A significant decrease in Faecalibacterium and Lachnospiraceae ND3007 group among PD patients, who had RBD was found.

Conclusion: We observed differences in gut microbiota composition between PD patients and their healthy spouses. Our findings suggest that both pre-motor symptoms of PD and disease duration, influenced microbiome composition. This study is the first in terms of both gut microbiota research in Turkish PD patients and the effect of microbiota on premotor symptoms.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/alteration-of-the-fecal-microbiota-in-turkish-patients-with-idiopathic-parkinsons-disease/