Objective: In this study we investigated the relationship between colonic microbiome and clinical features of the patients with homogeneous ethnicity.

Background: Colonic microbiome is an individualized functional environment of human intestine. Although alpha synuclein (aSyn) aggregation in the intestine is underscored in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), colonic microbiome was rarely studied in the patients with heterogeneous ethnicities.

Methods: 1) Participants: Functionally independent PD patients were included along with age- and sex- matched healthy controls. PD patients were grouped into early (PD diagnosed within 1 year) and advanced groups. 2) Identification of microbiome: Metagenomic DNA was extracted from stool samples. Sequenced 16S rRNA V1−V3 regions were taxonomically identified according to EzTaxon-e database. 3) Analysis: Microbiome diversity was expressed as operational taxonomic unit (OTU). Relative abundance (RA) of each taxonomic component was defined by the counts of each taxonomic component in phylum to species level within 3,000 reads which randomly selected from the valid reads of the subjects using the CLcommunity™ software (www.chunlab.com).

Results: 1) Thirty three patients with PD (early PD = 13) and 19 controls were included. 2) Total 1,675 species were identified. In 8 families, 17 genera and 72 species, RAs were significant different among the study groups in diverse patterns. In 4 families, 7 genera and 9 species, RAs of early PD were significantly different from those of controls and advanced PD, respectively. 3) Aanti-inflammatory species Faecalibacterium Prausnitzii less abundant in PD, whereas pro-inflammatory species Akkermansia Mucinophilia were more abundant in PD. 4) There were significant correlations between clinical features of PD and the bacteria. In case of disease severity (HY stage), RA of the family Prevotellaceae, which contributes mucin production in colonic mucosa was negatively correlated with HY stage. RA of the species Lactobacillus Salivarius were positively correlated with HY stage despite its probiotic function.

Conclusions: Our study showed significant difference in colonic microbiome of PD patients. The abundance of some bacteria seemed to contribute the understandings of PD pathogenesis and was correlated with some clinical features of PD patients.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/colonic-microbiome-in-korean-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/