Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Modulates the Gut Flora Favoring Patients With Functional Constipation

From BugSigDB
Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9
Citation
PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.
DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.
URI Uniform resource identifier for web resources.
Authors
Zhang X, Li N, Chen Q, Qin H
Journal
Frontiers in microbiology
Year
2021
Keywords:
16S rDNA gene sequencing, fecal microbiota transplantation, functional constipation, gut microbiome, serum inflammatory factor, short chain fatty acid
Intestinal dysmotility is common in many diseases and is correlated with gut microbiota dysbiosis and systemic inflammation. Functional constipation (FC) is the most typical manifestation of intestinal hypomotility and reduces patients' quality of life. Some studies have reported that fecal micriobiota transplantation (FMT) may be an effective and safe therapy for FC as it corrects intestinal dysbiosis. This study was conducted to evaluate how FMT remodels the gut microbiome and to determine a possible correlation between certain microbes and clinical symptoms in constipated individuals. Data were retrospectively collected on 18 patients who underwent FMT between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. The fecal bacterial genome was detected by sequencing the V3-V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rDNA gene. Fecal short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and serum inflammatory factor concentrations were detected via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Comparing the changes in fecal microbiome compositions before and after FMT revealed a significant augmentation in the alpha diversity and increased abundances of some flora such as Clostridiales, Fusicatenibacter, and Paraprevotella. This was consistent with the patients experiencing relief from their clinical symptoms. Abundances of other flora, including Lachnoanaerobaculum, were decreased, which might correlate with the severity of patients' constipation. Although no differences were found in SCFA production, the butyric acid concentration was correlated with both bacterial alterations and clinical symptoms. Serum IL-8 levels were significantly lower after FMT than at baseline, but IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12p70 levels were not noticeably changed. This study showed how FMT regulates the intestinal microenvironment and affects systemic inflammation in constipated patients, providing direction for further research on the mechanisms of FMT. It also revealed potential microbial targets for precise intervention, which may bring new breakthroughs in treating constipation.

Experiment 1


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Subjects

Location of subjects
China
Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.
Homo sapiens
Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology
Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces,feces
Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Health-related quality of life measurement HRQOL,Health-related quality of life measurement,health-related quality of life measurement
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Low PAC-SYM (Patient Assessment of Constipation-Symptoms)
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
High PAC-SYM (Patient Assessment of Constipation-Symptoms)
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Patients with high Patient Assessment of Constipation-Symptoms (PAC-SYM) scores, indicating more severe constipation symptoms.
Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any)
3 months

Lab analysis

Sequencing type
16S
16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene
V3-V4
Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance
Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).
relative abundances
Statistical test
Spearman Correlation
Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any)
0.05
MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?
No


Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3B

Description: Spearman correlation analysis revealed a correlation between patients’ clinical symptoms and the significantly altered bacteria from the LEfSe analysis.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in High PAC-SYM (Patient Assessment of Constipation-Symptoms)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Fusicatenibacter
Paraprevotella

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Experiment 2


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/03/29

Curator: Inisimeon

Revision editor(s): Inisimeon, Anne-mariesharp

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Constipation Constipation,Costiveness,Dyschezia,constipation
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
bef (pre-Fecal microbiota transplantation)
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
aft (post-Fecal microbiota transplantation)
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
post-FMT samples from patients who were not cured by fecal microbiota transplantation(FMT)
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
18
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
18

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Statistical test
LEfSe

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness
increased
Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness
unchanged
Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness
increased
Richness Number of species
unchanged
Faith Phylogenetic diversity, takes into account phylogenetic distance of all taxa identified in a sample
unchanged

Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/03/30

Curator: Inisimeon

Revision editor(s): Inisimeon, Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3A

Description: LEfSe analysis revealed significant changes in the fecal microbiota compositions before and after FMT.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in aft (post-Fecal microbiota transplantation)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Acidaminococcaceae
Allisonella
Clostridia
Coprococcus
Eubacteriales
Fusicatenibacter
Lactobacillaceae
Paraprevotella
Phascolarctobacterium
Weissella

Revision editor(s): Inisimeon, Anne-mariesharp

Signature 2

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/03/30

Curator: Inisimeon

Revision editor(s): Inisimeon, Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3A

Description: LEfSe analysis revealed significant changes in the fecal microbiota compositions before and after FMT.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in aft (post-Fecal microbiota transplantation)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Anaerofilum
Lachnoanaerobaculum
Neisseria

Revision editor(s): Inisimeon, Anne-mariesharp

Experiment 3


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Health-related quality of life measurement HRQOL,Health-related quality of life measurement,health-related quality of life measurement
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Low PAC_QOL (Patient-Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life)
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
High PAC_QOL (Patient-Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life)
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Patients with high Patient-Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC_QOL) score, indicating more severe constipation symptoms.
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
Not specified
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
Not specified

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Statistical test
Spearman Correlation


Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3B

Description: Spearman correlation analysis revealed a correlation between patients’ clinical symptoms and the significantly altered bacteria from the LEfSe analysis.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in High PAC_QOL (Patient-Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Fusicatenibacter
Paraprevotella
Coprococcus

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Experiment 4


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Bowel dysfunction disease of lower digestive tract,lower digestive tract disease,Bowel dysfunction,bowel dysfunction
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Low CSBM (Complete spontaneous bowel movement)
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
High CSBM (Complete spontaneous bowel movement)
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Patients with a high frequency of complete spontaneous bowel movements per week

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3B

Description: Spearman correlation analysis revealed a correlation between patients’ clinical symptoms and the significantly altered bacteria from the LEfSe analysis.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in High CSBM (Complete spontaneous bowel movement)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Fusicatenibacter
Paraprevotella
Phascolarctobacterium
Acidaminococcaceae
Clostridia
Eubacteriales

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Signature 2

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3B

Description: Spearman correlation analysis revealed a correlation between patients’ clinical symptoms and the significantly altered bacteria from the LEfSe analysis.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in High CSBM (Complete spontaneous bowel movement)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Lachnoanaerobaculum

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Experiment 5


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Constipation Constipation,Costiveness,Dyschezia,constipation
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Low BSFS (Bristol stool form scale) score
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
High BSFS (Bristol stool form scale) score
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Patients with high bristol stool form scale score

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-7-9

Curated date: 2025/07/08

Curator: Anne-mariesharp

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp

Source: Figure 3B

Description: Spearman correlation analysis revealed a correlation between patients’ clinical symptoms and the significantly altered bacteria from the LEfSe analysis.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in High BSFS (Bristol stool form scale) score

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Fusicatenibacter
Paraprevotella
Allisonella
Coprococcus
Clostridia
Eubacteriales

Revision editor(s): Anne-mariesharp