Imbalance in the Gut Microbiota of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Study information

Needs review

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

34790583

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.3389/fcimb.2021.572752

URI

Authors

Ding H, Yi X, Zhang X, Wang H, Liu H, Mou W

Journal

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Year

2021

Pages:

9

First page:

1

Keywords:

gut microbiota, autism spectrum disorders, children, high-throughput sequencing, firmicutes, actinobacteria

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are complex behavioral changes manifesting early in childhood, which impacts how an individual perceives and socializes with others. The study aims to assess the disparities in gut microbiota (GM) amongst healthy controls and children with ASD.

METHODS: The study was performed on 25 children with ASD and 20 healthy children. Autistic symptoms were diagnosed and assessed with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders and the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms were assessed with a GI Severity Index (GSI) questionnaire. The fecal bacteria composition was investigated by the high−throughput sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The alpha diversity was estimated using the Shannon, Chao, and ACE indexes. The unweighted UniFrac analysis and the PCA plots were used to represent the beta diversity. LDA and LEfSe were used to assess the effect sizes of each abundant differential taxon. RESULTS: Children with high GSI scores had much higher ATEC Total scores than those with lower GSI-scores. GI symptoms were strongly associated with symptoms of ASD. There was no difference in Chao, ACE, and Shannon indexes between ASD patients and healthy controls. Both groups showed a significant microbiota structure clustering in the plotted PCAs and significant differences in its composition at the family, order, genus, and phyla levels. There were also noteworthy overall relative differences in Actinobacteria and Firmicutes between both groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the relationship between the clinical manifestations of Autistic symptoms and GI symptoms. ASD patients have dysbiosis of gut microbiota, which may be related to the onset of ASD. These findings may be beneficial for developing ASD symptoms by changing gut microbiota.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2024/10/10

Curator: AlishaM

Revision editor(s): AlishaM

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: Autism spectrum disorder atypical autism,autism spectrum disease,autism spectrum disorder,Autism Spectrum Disorders,autistic spectrum disorder,CHILD DEVELOPMENT DIS PERVASIVE,Child Development Disorders, Pervasive,Development Disorder, Pervasive,Development Disorders, Pervasive,Disorder, Autism Spectrum,Disorder, Pervasive Development,Disorders, Autism Spectrum,Disorders, Pervasive Development,PDD,PERVASIVE CHILD DEVELOPMENT DIS,Pervasive Child Development Disorders,Pervasive Development Disorder,Pervasive Development Disorders,pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified,pervasive developmental disorders,Spectrum Disorder, Autism,Spectrum Disorders, Autism,Autism spectrum disorder

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Healthy children

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Diagnosed with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition (DSM-5))

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 20

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 25

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

Alpha Diversity

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

Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: unchanged

Signature 1

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Curated date: 2024/10/10

Curator: AlishaM

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Source: Figure 4, Figure 5

Description: The difference of gut microbiota between ASD and control group on genus and phylum level

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Faecalibacterium
Prevotella
Subdoligranulum
Ruminococcus
Agathobacter
Bacillota

Revision editor(s): AlishaM

Signature 2

Edit History Delete

Mark reviewed

Your review change was submitted

Needs review

Curated date: 2024/10/10

Curator: AlishaM

Revision editor(s): AlishaM

Source: Figure 4, Figure 5

Description: The difference of gut microbiota between ASD and control group on genus and phylum level

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Bifidobacterium
Eubacterium
Actinomycetota
Mycoplasmatota
Fusobacteriia

Revision editor(s): AlishaM