Disruption of gut microbiome and metabolome in treatment-naïve children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

BACKGROUND

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an increasing prevalence in children. Recent studies have suggested that the gut microbiota may play a significant role in the development of ADHD. However, the specific relationship between changes in intestinal bacteria and related metabolites in children with ADHD remains poorly understood.

RESULTS

In this study, we illustrated the fecal microbiome, metabolome and lipidome, as well as plasma metabolome using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and LC-MS in 15 pairs of children with ADHD and healthy controls. Our results revealed imbalance of gut microbiota and dysregulation of metabolites in individuals with ADHD. Specifically, children with ADHD exhibited significantly lower abundance of the Actinobacteria phylum, particularly Bifidobacterium, Corynebacterium and Actinomyces, while Veillonella in the Negativicutes class showed significant high level. No children with ADHD were classified under enterotype 1, which was composed solely of healthy children. Integration of multi-omics data suggested that the Bifidobacterium genus, which is positively correlated with various neurotransmitter precursor amino acid metabolites, may contribute to ADHD by downregulating pathways involving dopaminergic, serotonergic and glutamatergic systems.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the crucial regulatory impact of gut microbiota in the development of ADHD through metabolic pathways, and provide a potential avenue to the diagnosis and intervention of ADHD.