Association of fecal short-chain fatty acids with clinical severity and gut microbiota in essential tremor and its difference from Parkinson's disease

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-4-7

study design

cross-sectional observational, not case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

37460569

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-023-00554-5

URI

Authors

Huang P, Zhang P, Du J, Gao C, Liu J, Tan Y, Chen S

Journal

NPJ Parkinson's disease

Year

2023

Diagnosis of essential tremor (ET) at an early stage can be difficult, especially when distinguishing it from healthy controls (HCs) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, stool sample analysis of gut microbiota and its metabolites provides new ways to detect novel biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), as the main metabolites of gut microbiota, were reduced in the feces of PD. However, fecal SCFAs in ET have never been investigated. We aimed to investigate the fecal SCFA levels in ET, assess their relationships with clinical symptoms and gut microbiota, and identify their potential diagnostic abilities. Fecal SCFAs and gut microbiota in 37 ET, 37 de novo PD and 35 HC were measured. Constipation, autonomic dysfunction and tremor severity were evaluated by scales. ET had lower fecal propionic, butyric and isobutyric acid levels than HC. Combined propionic, butyric and isobutyric acid distinguished ET from HC with an AUC of 0.751 (95% CI: 0.634-0.867). ET had lower fecal isovaleric and isobutyric acid levels than PD. Isovaleric and isobutyric acid differentiated ET from PD with an AUC of 0.743 (95% CI: 0.629-0.857). Fecal propionic acid was negatively correlated with constipation and autonomic dysfunction. Isobutyric and isovaleric acid were negatively associated with tremor severity. Lowered fecal SCFAs were related to a decreased abundance of Faecalibacterium and Catenibacterium in ET. In conclusion, fecal SCFAs were decreased in ET and correlated with clinical severity and gut microbiota changes. Fecal propionic, butyric, isobutyric and isovaleric acid might be potential diagnostic and differential diagnostic biomarkers for ET.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2024/03/09

Curator: Nityasinghal 14

Revision editor(s): Nityasinghal 14, Svetlana up, WikiWorks

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: Essential tremor benign essential tremor,benign essential tremor (disorder) [Ambiguous],essential hereditary tremor,essential tremor,Essential tremor (finding),shaky hand syndrome,tremor, hereditary essential,Essential tremor

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

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

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Participants face an action tremor of the upper limbs, possibly with the involvement of other parts of the body, such as the head, vocal cords, and lower limbs. Not only motor symptoms but also some nonmotor features, including gastrointestinal disorders, were experienced by them.

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 35

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 37

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

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V3-V4

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

Signature 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-4-7

Curated date: 2024/03/19

Curator: Nityasinghal 14

Revision editor(s): Nityasinghal 14, Svetlana up, WikiWorks

Source: Figure 4, Table S5

Description: Exploration of discriminant gut microbiota using LEfSE analysis and the genus level of the relative abundance data was selected for further study.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Essential Tremor

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Stenotrophomonas

Revision editor(s): Nityasinghal 14, Svetlana up, WikiWorks

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-4-7

Curated date: 2024/03/19

Curator: Nityasinghal 14

Revision editor(s): Nityasinghal 14, Svetlana up, WikiWorks

Source: Figure 4, Table S5

Description: Exploration of discriminant gut microbiota using LEfSE analysis, and the genus level of the relative abundance data was selected for further study.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Essential Tremor