Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Sep;7(3):229-236.
doi: 10.1002/iid3.266. Epub 2019 Jul 15.

Relationship between oral and gut microbiota in elderly people

Megumi Iwauchi  1 , Ayako Horigome  2 , Kentaro Ishikawa  1 , Aya Mikuni  1 , Manabu Nakano  3 , Jin-Zhong Xiao  2 , Toshitaka Odamaki  2 , Shouji Hironaka  1
Affiliations

Relationship between oral and gut microbiota in elderly people

Megumi Iwauchi et al. Immun Inflamm Dis. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

Aim: Recent studies have suggested that oral bacteria induce systemic inflammation through the alteration of gut microbiota. We examined the relationship between oral and gut microbiota to evaluate the transition of oral bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract.

Methods: Oral samples from subgingival plaque and tongue-coating and fecal samples were collected from 29 elderly subjects (age, 80.2 ± 9.1 years) and 30 adults (age, 35.9 ± 5.0 years). Genomic DNA was extracted from all samples, and DNA sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes was performed for microbiota analysis. UniFrac distances were calculated to evaluate the similarity between microbial communities.

Results: Unweighted UniFrac distance indicated that the elderly group had a higher similarity between fecal and subgingival plaque microbiota than the adult group. Indeed, some bacterial taxa found in oral samples had a significantly higher prevalence in the feces of the elderly group than in that of the adult group.

Conclusions: The prevalence of oral bacterial transition to gut may be higher in the elderly than in adults, expecting that oral health care in the elderly will affect their gut microbiota composition and consequently promote human health.

Keywords: bacterial transition; elderly; fecal microbiota; oral microbiota.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Four of the authors, A Horigome, M Nakano, JZ Xiao, and T Odamaki, are employees of Morinaga Milk Industry. The other authors declare no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Compositions of each microbiota at the genus level. Labels except for “others” indicate the genera at average relative abundance (≥5%) in at least one sampling site. FA, feces of adult; FE, feces of elderly; PA, subgingival plaque of adult; PE, subgingival plaque of elderly; TA, tongue coating of adult; TE, tongue coating of elderly
Figure 2
Figure 2
Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) of fecal and oral microbiota. A, Unweighted and (B) weighted UniFrac PCoA of fecal, subgingival plaque and tongue‐coating microbiota in samples collected from the healthy adult (n = 30) and elderly subjects (n = 29). Unweighted and weighted distances are calculated based on the presence or absence and the relative abundance of observed bacterial taxa, respectively. Closer plots in the PCoA figure indicate more similar microbiota composition. The percentage of variation explained by principle coordinates (PC) is indicated on the axes. FA, feces of adult; FE, feces of elderly; PA, subgingival plaque of adult; PE, subgingival plaque of elderly; TA, tongue coating of adult; TE, tongue coating of elderly
Figure 3
Figure 3
Unweighted UniFrac distance between fecal and subgingival plaque microbiota (A) and between fecal and tongue‐coating microbiota (B) compared between the adult and elderly groups. *P < .05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mitsuoka T, Hayakawa K. The fecal flora in man. I Composition of the fecal flora of various age groups. Zentralbl Bakteriol Orig A. 1973;223:333‐342. - PubMed
    1. Odamaki T, Kato K, Sugahara H, et al. Age‐related changes in gut microbiota composition from newborn to centenarian: a cross‐sectional study. BMC Microbiol. 2016;16:90. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bermudez‐Brito M, Muñoz‐Quezada S, Gomez‐Llorente C, et al. Cell‐free culture supernatant of Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I‐4035 decreases pro‐inflammatory cytokines in human dendritic cells challenged with salmonella typhi through TLR activation. PLOS One. 2013;8:e59370. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Groeger D, O'Mahony L, Murphy EF, et al. Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 modulates host inflammatory processes beyond the gut. Gut Microbes. 2013;4:325‐339. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Buford TW. (Dis)Trust your gut: the gut microbiome in age‐related inflammation, health, and disease. Microbiome. 2017;5:80. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances