Oluwagbemigun Kolade, Schnermann Maike E, Schmid Matthias, Cryan John F, Nöthlings Ute
Nutritional Epidemiology, Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Department of Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology, University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Gut Pathog. 2022 Apr 19;14(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s13099-022-00487-z.
There is emerging evidence that the gut microbiome composition is associated with several human health outcomes, which include cognitive performance. However, only a few prospective epidemiological studies exist and none among young adults. Here we address the gap in the literature by investigating whether the gut microbiome composition is prospectively linked to fluid intelligence among healthy young adults.
Forty individuals (65% females, 26 years) from the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study provided a fecal sample for gut microbiome composition and subsequently (average of 166 days) completed a cognitive functioning test using the Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test, revised German version (CFT 20-R). The assessment of the gut microbiome at the genera level was by 16S rRNA V3-V4 Illumina sequencing. The relative abundance of 158 genera was summarized into bacterial communities using a novel data-driven dimension reduction, amalgamation. The fluid intelligence score was regressed on the relative abundance of the bacterial communities and adjusted for selected covariates.
The 158 genera were amalgamated into 12 amalgams (bacterial communities), which were composed of 18, 6, 10, 14, 8, 10, 16, 13, 12, 12, 3, and 11 genera. Only the 14-genera bacterial community, named the "Ruminococcaceae- and Coriobacteriaceae-dominant community" was positively associated with fluid intelligence score (β = 7.8; 95% CI: 0.62, 15.65, P = 0.04).
Among healthy young adults, the abundance of a gut bacterial community was associated with fluid intelligence score. This study suggests that cognitive performance may potentially benefit from gut microbiome-based intervention.
越来越多的证据表明，肠道微生物群组成与包括认知能力在内的多种人类健康结果相关。然而，前瞻性流行病学研究较少，且尚无针对年轻人的此类研究。在此，我们通过调查肠道微生物群组成是否与健康年轻成年人的流体智力存在前瞻性关联，来填补这一文献空白。
来自多特蒙德营养与人体测量纵向设计（DONALD）研究的40名个体（65%为女性，平均年龄26岁）提供了粪便样本以分析肠道微生物群组成，随后（平均间隔166天）使用修订的德文版卡特尔文化公平智力测验（CFT 20-R）完成了认知功能测试。通过16S rRNA V3-V4区域的Illumina测序对属水平的肠道微生物群进行评估。利用一种新的数据驱动降维方法——合并，将158个属的相对丰度汇总为细菌群落。将流体智力得分对细菌群落的相对丰度进行回归分析，并对选定的协变量进行调整。
158个属被合并为12个合并群落（细菌群落），分别由18、6、10、14、8、10、16、13、12、12、3和11个属组成。只有一个由14个属组成的细菌群落，即“以瘤胃球菌科和柯里杆菌科为主的群落”与流体智力得分呈正相关（β = 7.8；95%置信区间：0.62，15.65，P = 0.04）。
在健康年轻成年人中，一种肠道细菌群落的丰度与流体智力得分相关。本研究表明，基于肠道微生物群的干预可能对认知能力有潜在益处。
