Connection of pre-competition anxiety with gut microbiota and metabolites in wrestlers with varying sports performances based on brain-gut axis theory

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-5-9

study design

cross-sectional observational, not case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

38678197

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1186/s12866-024-03279-4

URI Uniform resource identifier for web resources.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11055349/

Authors

Fu P, Wang C, Zheng S, Qiao L, Gao W, Gong L

Journal

BMC microbiology

Year

2024

Keywords:

Brain-gut axis, Gut microbiota, Pre-competition anxiety, Untargeted metabonomics, Wrestlers

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the connection of pre-competition anxiety with gut microbiota and metabolites in wrestlers with different sports performances. METHODS: One week prior to a national competition, 12 wrestlers completed anxiety questionnaires. Faecal and urine samples were collected for the analysis of gut microbiota and metabolites through the high-throughput sequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene in conjunction with untargeted metabolomics technology. The subjects were divided into two groups, namely, achievement (CP) and no-achievement (CnP) wrestlers, on the basis of whether or not their performances placed them in the top 16 at the competition. The relationship amongst the variations in gut microbiota, metabolites, and anxiety indicators was analyzed. RESULTS: (1) The CP group exhibited significantly higher levels of "state self-confidence," "self-confidence," and "somatic state anxiety" than the CnP group. Conversely, the CP group displayed lower levels of "individual failure anxiety" and "sports competition anxiety" than the CnP group. (2) The gut microbiota in the CP group was more diverse and abundant than that in the CnP group. Pre-competition anxiety was linked to Oscillospiraceae UCG_005, Paraprevotella, Ruminococcaceae and TM7x. (3) The functions of differential metabolites in faeces and urine of the CP/CnP group were mainly enriched in caffeine metabolism, lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and VEGF and mTOR signaling pathways. Common differential metabolites in feces and urine were significantly associated with multiple anxiety indicators. CONCLUSIONS: Wrestlers with different sports performance have different pre-competition anxiety states, gut microbiota distribution and abundance and differential metabolites in faeces and urine. A certain correlation exists between these psychological and physiological indicators.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-5-9

Curated date: 2025/04/25

Curator: Shulamite

Revision editor(s): Shulamite

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: Physical activity measurement Physical activity measurement,physical activity measurement

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: No- achievement group (CnP group)

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Achievement group (CP group)

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Wrestlers who ranked 3rd, 9th, 11th, and 15th in the female division and 11th and 16th in the male division. (Top rank).

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 6

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 6

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): 6 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: LEfSe

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

LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 2.5

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: unchanged

Richness Number of species: unchanged

Signature 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-5-9

Curated date: 2025/04/25

Curator: Shulamite

Revision editor(s): Shulamite

Source: Fig 3B1 and 3B2

Description: Histogram of the distribution of lda values.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Achievement group (CP group)

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Candidatus Altimarinota
Candidatus Nanosynbacter lyticus
Candidatus Saccharimonadaceae
Candidatus Saccharimonadales
Candidatus Saccharimonadia
unclassified_TM7xunclassified_TM7x

Revision editor(s): Shulamite

Signature 3

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by KateRasheed on 2025-5-9

Curated date: 2025/04/25

Curator: Shulamite

Revision editor(s): Shulamite

Source: Fig 3B1 and 3B2

Description: Histogram of the distribution of lda values.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Achievement group (CP group)

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Odoribacter splanchnicus
Paraprevotella
Ruminococcaceae bacterium UCG-005
unclassified Oscillospiraceae
unclassified_UCG_005unclassified_UCG_005
Incertae_SedisIncertae_Sedis

Revision editor(s): Shulamite