Objective: To compare the gut microbiota in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy controls and predict the functional pathways associated with these differences.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, particularly in aging populations. Despite its high incidence, there is currently no disease-modifying treatment available. In recent years, the gut-brain axis has garnered attention, with gut microbiota emerging as a novel target for the development of disease-modifying therapies. Previous studies have indicated differences in gut microbiota composition between PD patients and healthy controls, particularly in glucose and lipid metabolism.

Method: We conducted a prospective cohort study to evaluate the impact of gut microbiota in PD patients (n=50) compared to healthy controls (n=50). Detailed clinical data including age, sex, duration of PD, Hoehn and Yahr stage, and comorbidities were collected. Bacterial genomic DNA (gDNA) was extracted from fecal samples, and its concentration was measured using the Qubit 3.0 Fluorometer (Qubit™ dsDNA HS Assay Kit, Invitrogen, Life Technologies). Samples were stored at -80°C after ensuring a minimum concentration of 500 ng. Full-length 16S rRNA analysis was performed using pb-16s-nf (ver: v0.7, Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.). Purified PCR amplicons (500 ng) were utilized to construct the SMRTbell library following the instructions in the SMRTbell Express template prep kit 2.0 (PacBio, Menlo Park, CA, USA). Additionally, PICRUSt2 (ver: 2.5.0) was employed for predicting metagenome functions.

Results: Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) plots of bacterial β-diversity based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity revealed significant differences between PD patients and healthy controls. Functional predictions of bacterial metabolic pathways indicated decreased galactose and sucrose degradation in PD patients compared to healthy controls.

Conclusion: Our prospective cohort study identified differences in gut microbiota composition between PD patients and healthy controls, potentially implicating alterations in glucose metabolism. Further clinical validation is warranted to bolster our findings.

PD patients (red) versus healthy controls (green)

« Back to 2024 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gut-microbiota-may-alter-glucose-metabolism-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/