Wen Xiaofeng, Miao Li, Deng Yuhua, Bible Paul W, Hu Xiao, Zou Yanli, Liu Yu, Guo Shixin, Liang Juanran, Chen Tingting, Peng Guang-Hua, Chen Wei, Liang Lingyi, Wei Lai
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Pathophysiology, Basic Medical College of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, He'nan, China.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017 Dec 1;58(14):6030-6037. doi: 10.1167/iovs.17-22957.
A growing body of evidence suggests that the microbiome of the ocular surface confers potent immunoregulatory functions and has a key role in the physiologic maintenance of healthy eyes and in the pathogenesis of ocular diseases. Although the microbiome is known to be affected by age and sex, the influence of these factors on ocular surface microbiota in healthy adults remains largely unknown.
Ocular surface microbiome samples were obtained from the inferior bulbar conjunctiva of 48 young and 42 old adults at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. Using metagenomic shotgun sequencing, we characterized the sex- and age-differences in conjunctival microbiome profiles of healthy adults.
Male and female groups differed only in the β diversity of bacterial communities, while there were significant differences in bacterial composition, metabolic functions, and the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes between young and old adult groups.
Our findings suggest that age and sex collectively shape the conjunctival microbiome, and may change the immune homeostasis of the ocular surface through alterations of its commensal microbiome.
越来越多的证据表明，眼表微生物群具有强大的免疫调节功能，在健康眼睛的生理维持以及眼部疾病的发病机制中起着关键作用。虽然已知微生物群会受到年龄和性别的影响，但这些因素对健康成年人眼表微生物群的影响在很大程度上仍不清楚。
在中山大学中山眼科中心，从48名年轻成年人和42名老年成年人的下睑结膜获取眼表微生物群样本。使用宏基因组鸟枪法测序，我们对健康成年人结膜微生物群谱中的性别和年龄差异进行了表征。
男性和女性组仅在细菌群落的β多样性上存在差异，而年轻和老年成年人组在细菌组成、代谢功能以及抗生素抗性基因丰度方面存在显著差异。
我们的研究结果表明，年龄和性别共同塑造结膜微生物群，并可能通过改变其共生微生物群来改变眼表的免疫稳态。
