Comparing the gut microbiome of obese, African American, older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment.
Andrew McLeodBeatriz Penalver BernabeYinglin XiaJennifer Sanchez-FlackMelissa LamarLinda SchifferKarla CastellanosGiamila FantuzziPauline MakiMarian FitzgibbonLisa Tussing-HumphreysPublished in: PloS one (2023)
Those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia, have a gut microbiome distinct from healthy individuals, but this has only been shown in healthy individuals, not in those exhibiting several risk factors for dementia. Using amplicon 16S rRNA gene sequencing in a case-control study of 60 older (ages 55-76), obese, predominately female, African American adults, those with MCI (cases) had different gut microbiota profiles than controls. While microbial community diversity was similar between cases and controls, the abundances of specific microbial taxa weren't, such as Parabacteroides distasonis (lower in cases) and Dialister invisus (higher in cases). These differences disappeared after adjusting for markers of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation. Cognitive scores were positively correlated with levels of Akkermansia muciniphila, a bacterium associated with reduced inflammation. Our study shows that gut microbial composition may be associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, and MCI in those at high risk for dementia.
Keyphrases
- mild cognitive impairment
- african american
- microbial community
- oxidative stress
- cognitive decline
- adipose tissue
- dna damage
- metabolic syndrome
- type diabetes
- antibiotic resistance genes
- physical activity
- weight loss
- diabetic rats
- induced apoptosis
- ischemia reperfusion injury
- obese patients
- dna methylation
- gene expression
- signaling pathway
- cognitive impairment
- genome wide analysis