Effects of Aricept on intestinal flora diversity in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease explored through high-throughput sequencing technology.

OBJECTIVE

To research the effects of Aricept on the intestinal flora in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and explore the relationship between the improvement from Aricept on AD and the changes in intestinal flora.

METHODS

One month after Aricept treatment, DNA was extracted from stool samples of patients and the quality of DNA was detected. Then, the library was constructed, quantified, pooled and the quality of the library was checked. Sequencing was conducted using the Miseq sequencer and the related results were analyzed by bioinformatics.

RESULTS

The overall structure of intestinal flora in AD patients was largely changed after Aricept treatment (P<0.05), which was mainly shown as decreased abundance of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, actinobacteria and fusobacteria, and increased abundance of Bacteroidetes. The average abundance of intestinal flora in lipid metabolism pathwa was also different before and after treatment (P<0.05). The function of target receptor molecules in the Aricept drug target network mainly targets G-protein coupled receptors; biological processes in energy metabolism; and biological pathways mostly target proteoglycans.

CONCLUSION

The occurrence and progression of AD are closely related to abnormal changes in intestinal flora structure. Bile acids may improve the symptoms of mild AD by changing the intestinal flora through lipid energy metabolism. In other words, Bile acids regulate the activity of the host nervous system through intestinal flora regulation. Intestinal flora maintains the homeostasis of bile acid and further affects the physiological and pathological processes of the host. The analysis of AD related flora structure pattern helps to understand the molecular pathological basis of AD and provides theoretical basis for the development and design of innovative drugs for AD.