孤独症谱系障碍儿童肠道菌群与行为症状的相关研究

Correlation between gut microbiota and behavior symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder

目的探索孤独症谱系障碍(ASD)儿童肠道菌群的构成及其与行为症状严重程度之间的关系.方法选取30名ASD儿童为ASD组,20名年龄、性别与之匹配的健康儿童为健康对照组,统计两组相关基本信息.对两组儿童粪便样本中细菌16S rRNA基因的V3-V4高变区进行测序,并采用孤独症治疗评估量表评估ASD儿童行为症状的严重程度.应用Spearman秩相关分析ASD儿童肠道菌群与行为症状严重程度的相关性.结果研究表明两组儿童肠道微生态菌群结构存在显著差异.与健康对照组相比,ASD组儿童α多样性指数(Shannon和Shannoneven)显著降低(P<0.05);粪便Firmicutes比例显著降低,而Acidobacteria比例显著增高(P<0.05).ASD组儿童粪便的优势菌群为Megamonas、Megasphaera、Barnesiella等;而健康对照组儿童粪便的优势菌群为Eubacterium_rectale_group、Ezakiella、Streptococcus等.且Megamonas丰度与ASD儿童健康/身体/行为和语言评分均呈正相关(P<0.05).结论 ASD的发展及其行为症状的严重程度与肠道菌群结构密切相关.

Objective To investigate the composition of gut microbiota and its correlation with the severity of behavior symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods A total of 30 children with ASD were enrolled as the ASD group, and 20 healthy children matched for age and sex were enrolled as the healthy control group. Related clinical data were analyzed. The V3-V4 hypervariable regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples were sequenced. The severity of behavior symptoms in children with ASD was assessed using the autism behavior checklist. The Spearman's correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between gut microbiota and the severity of behavior symptoms in children with ASD. Results There was a significant difference in the composition of gut microbiota between the two groups. Compared with the healthy control group, the ASD group had significant reductions in Shannon index and Shannoneven index (P<0.05), as well as a significant reduction in the percentage of Firmicutes and a significant increase in the percentage of Acidobacteria in feces (P<0.05). In the ASD group, the dominant bacteria were Megamonas, Megasphaera, and Barnesiella, while in the healthy control group, the dominant bacteria were Eubacterium rectale group, Ezakiella, and Streptococcus. In the children with ASD, the abundance of Megamonas was positively correlated with the scores of health/physical/behavior and language communication (P<0.05). Conclusions The development of ASD and the severity of behavior symptoms are closely associated with the composition of gut microbiota.