Comparison of compositions and metabolic activities of fecal microbiotas in young adults and in antibiotic-treated and non-antibiotic-treated elderly subjects

Abstract

The colonic microbiota mediates many cellular and molecular events in the host that are important to health. These processes can be affected in the elderly, because in some individuals, the composition and metabolic activities of the microbiota change with age. Detailed characterizations of the major groups of fecal bacteria in healthy young adults, in healthy elderly people, and in hospitalized elderly patients receiving antibiotics were made in this study, together with measurements of their metabolic activities, by analysis of fecal organic acid and ammonia concentrations. The results showed that total anaerobe numbers remained relatively constant in old people; however, individual bacterial genera changed markedly with age. Reductions in numbers of bacteroides and bifidobacteria in both elderly groups were accompanied by reduced species diversity. Bifidobacterial populations in particular showed marked variations in the dominant species, with Bifidobacterium angulatum and Bifidobacterium adolescentis being frequently isolated from the elderly and Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium catenulatum, Bifidobacterium boum, and Bifidobacterium infantis being detected only from the healthy young volunteers. Reductions in amylolytic activities of bacterial isolates in healthy elderly subjects and reduced short-chain fatty acid concentrations supported these findings, since bifidobacteria and bacteroides are important saccharolytic groups in the colon. Conversely, higher numbers of proteolytic bacteria were observed with feces samples from the antibiotic-treated elderly group, which were also associated with increased proteolytic species diversity (fusobacteria, clostridia, and propionibacteria). Other differences in the intestinal ecosystem in elderly subjects were observed, with alterations in the dominant clostridial species in combination with greater numbers of facultative anaerobes.

FIG. 1.

Box plot showing mean fecal bacterial counts from individuals in different age groups: a total anaerobe counts, b total facultative anaerobe counts. Results are expressed as mean log₁₀ CFU per gram of feces ± interquartile range. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean. Healthy young (HY), n = 12; healthy elderly (HE), n = 6; antibiotic-treated elderly (AE), n = 10; *, significant difference (P < 0.05) between HE and AE.

FIG. 2.

Summary of bacterial species diversity in feces from individuals in different age groups. Results are expressed as mean values ± standard errors of the mean. Healthy young (white), healthy elderly (grey), and antibiotic-treated elderly (black).