Jones Jacquelyn, Reinke Stacey N, Mousavi-Derazmahalleh Mahsa, Palmer Debra J, Christophersen Claus T
Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia.
The Western Australian Human Microbiome Collaboration Centre, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia.
Front Microbiol. 2022 Jul 28;13:905901. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.905901. eCollection 2022.
The human gut microbiome has increasingly been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is a neurological developmental disorder, characterized by impairments to social interaction. The ability of the gut microbiota to signal across the gut-brain-microbiota axis with metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids, impacts brain health and has been identified to play a role in the gastrointestinal and developmental symptoms affecting autistic children. The fecal microbiome of older children with ASD has repeatedly shown particular shifts in the bacterial and fungal microbial community, which are significantly different from age-matched neurotypical controls, but it is still unclear whether these characteristic shifts are detectable before diagnosis. Early microbial colonization patterns can have long-lasting effects on human health, and pre-emptive intervention may be an important mediator to more severe autism. In this study, we characterized both the microbiome and short-chain fatty acid concentrations of fecal samples from young children between 21 and 40 months who were showing early behavioral signs of ASD. The fungal richness and acetic acid concentrations were observed to be higher with increasing autism severity, and the abundance of several bacterial taxa also changed due to the severity of ASD. Bacterial diversity and SCFA concentrations were also associated with stool form, and some bacterial families were found with differential abundance according to stool firmness. An exploratory analysis of the microbiome associated with pre-emptive treatment also showed significant differences at multiple taxonomic levels. These differences may impact the microbial signaling across the gut-brain-microbiota axis and the neurological development of the children.
人类肠道微生物群越来越多地与自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）相关联，ASD是一种神经发育障碍，其特征是社交互动受损。肠道微生物群能够通过包括短链脂肪酸在内的代谢产物在肠道-脑-微生物群轴上进行信号传递，这会影响大脑健康，并且已被确定在影响自闭症儿童的胃肠道和发育症状中起作用。患有ASD的大龄儿童的粪便微生物群反复显示出细菌和真菌微生物群落的特定变化，这些变化与年龄匹配的神经典型对照组有显著差异，但仍不清楚这些特征性变化在诊断前是否可检测到。早期的微生物定植模式可能对人类健康产生长期影响，而预防性干预可能是预防更严重自闭症的重要调节因素。在这项研究中，我们对21至40个月大、表现出自闭症早期行为迹象的幼儿粪便样本的微生物群和短链脂肪酸浓度进行了特征分析。随着自闭症严重程度的增加，观察到真菌丰富度和乙酸浓度更高，并且由于ASD的严重程度，几种细菌类群的丰度也发生了变化。细菌多样性和短链脂肪酸浓度也与粪便形态有关，并且根据粪便硬度发现一些细菌家族的丰度存在差异。对与预防性治疗相关的微生物群的探索性分析也显示在多个分类水平上存在显著差异。这些差异可能会影响肠道-脑-微生物群轴上的微生物信号传递以及儿童的神经发育。
