[Assessment of species diversity of anaerobic intestinal microbiota in children and adolescents with exogenous constitutional obesity].

The problem of the increasing obesity among children and adolescents is urgent. One of the most interesting and promising directions in this area is to study the correlation of individual microorganisms with the presence and absence of obesity. The aim of the study was to assess the correlation between the isolation frequency of individual microorganisms and the presence of obesity in children and adolescents and to identify possible associations between different groups of microorganisms in obese patients. Material and methods . 156 male and female patients aged from 7 to 17 years were included in the study. The patients were divided into a control group (n=23) (healthy patients), a group of children with exogenous constitutional obesity without complications (n=25), a group of children who had one or more complications of obesity (n=108). For all patients body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Additional examination included a cultural study of the intestinal microbiota. Fecal samples of patients were used as the material. Preparation of the material for inoculation, inoculation and subsequent incubation of the Petri plates were carried out under anaerobic conditions. The isolated microorganisms were identified using the MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry method. Results . When analyzing the correlation between obesity and individual taxa, statistically significant differences were obtained only for Bifidobacterium spp. (p=0.045). The analysis of the correlation between obesity and the isolation of individual microorganisms has shown that Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum (p=0.012), Candida albicans (p=0.012), Streptococcus salivarius (p=0.016), Bifidobacterium breve (p=0.003), Veillonella parvula (p=0.013), Haemophilus parainfluenzae (p=0.003), Streptococcus oralis (p=0.001), Weissella confusa (p=0.036), Enterococcus mundtii (p=0.036) were isolated less often in patients with obesity than in control group. Conclusion . The results of the study has demonstrated that only one taxon, Bifidobacterium spp., had a significant correlation with the absence of obesity. At the same time, a reliable correlation with the absence of obesity was also established for individual microorganisms, including several microorganisms from Bifidobacterium spp. and Streptococcus spp., which may enable to establish certain microbiological predictors of obesity and its complications.