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. 2022 Feb 4;10(2):302.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare10020302.

Comparison of Metabolites and Gut Microbes between Patients with Parkinson's Disease and Healthy Individuals-A Pilot Clinical Observational Study (STROBE Compliant)

Cheol-Hyun Kim  1   2 , Jeeyoun Jung  3 , Young-Ung Lee  1   2 , Kwang-Ho Kim  1   2 , Sunny Kang  1   2 , Geon-Hui Kang  2   4 , Hongmin Chu  1 , Se-Young Kim  2 , Sangkwan Lee  1   2   4
Affiliations

Comparison of Metabolites and Gut Microbes between Patients with Parkinson's Disease and Healthy Individuals-A Pilot Clinical Observational Study (STROBE Compliant)

Cheol-Hyun Kim et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Introduction: Even if levodopa, dopamine agonists, and others are used for patients with Parkinson's disease, the effect is not sustained, and side effects such as motor fluctuation and dyskinesia are more likely to appear as the dose increases. Thus, new approaches for managing Parkinson's disease are needed. This study aimed to compare the metabolites and gut microbes between patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy individuals.

Methods: This was an observational study with a case-control design. Metabolite and gut microbial analyses were performed using blood and stool samples collected from the subjects.

Results: Among the metabolites, the acetate, citrate, methionine, and trimethylamine levels were significantly different between the two groups. In the gut microbes, abundance of Bacteroidetes, Prevotella, Phascolarctobacterium, Pseudoflavonifractor, Eisenbergiella, and Gemella were also significantly different between the two groups.

Discussion: Metabolites are the products of gut microbes. Therefore, when the gut microbes change, the metabolites change accordingly. Metabolites and gut microbes that were significantly different between the two groups were mostly those involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. Our data may be helpful for the development of new drugs targeting metabolites and gut microbes through large-scale studies in the future.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; gut microbes; metabolites.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PCA score plot derived from the 1H-NMR spectra of serum from the Parkinson’s disease (PD) patient group (n = 10) and healthy control (HC) group (n = 10). PD, Parkinson’s disease; HC: healthy control.
Figure 2
Figure 2
OPLS-DA score plot derived from the 1H-NMR spectra of serum from PD (n = 10) and HC groups (n = 10). OPLS-DA, orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis; PD, Parkinson’s disease; HC: healthy control: NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Validation of the OPLS model using the 100-permutation test.
Figure 4
Figure 4
OPLS-DA coefficient plot of all metabolites in Parkinson’s disease patients.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Box and whisker plot of acetate, citrate, methionine, and trimethylamine in the Parkinson’s disease (PD) group and healthy control (HC) group. PD, Parkinson’s disease; HC: healthy control.
Figure 6
Figure 6
PCoA plots based on Bray–Curtis distances between the PPD and HC groups. PCoA, principal coordinate analysis (PCoA); Parkinson’s disease; HC: healthy control.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Gut microbe composition at the phylum levels of the HC and PD groups. HC: healthy control; PD: Parkinson’s disease.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Gut microbe composition at the genus levels of the HC and PD groups. HC: healthy control; PD: Parkinson’s disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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