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Title: Differences in fecal microbial metabolites and microbiota of children with autism spectrum disorders

Journal Article · · Anaerobe
 [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology; Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
  3. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
  4. Univ. of Colorado, Denver, CO (United States). Dept. of Medicine; Univ. of Colorado, Denver, CO (United States). Computational Bioscience Program
  5. Univ. of Colorado, Denver, CO (United States). Dept. of Medicine
  6. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies; Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
  7. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). School of Mechanical, Aerospace, Chemical, and Materials Engineering

Evidence supporting that gut problems are linked to ASD symptoms has been accumulating both in humans and animal models of ASD. Gut microbes and their metabolites may be linked not only to GI problems but also to ASD behavior symptoms. Despite this high interest, most previous studies have looked mainly at microbial structure, and studies on fecal metabolites are rare in the context of ASD. Thus, we aimed to detect fecal metabolites that may be present at significantly different concentrations between 21 children with ASD and 23 neurotypical children and to investigate its possible link to human gut microbiome. Using 1H-NMR spectroscopy and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we examined metabolite profiles and microbial compositions in fecal samples, respectively. Of the 59 metabolites detected, isopropanol concentrations were significantly higher in feces of children with ASD after multiple testing corrections. We also observed similar trends of fecal metabolites to previous studies; children with ASD have higher fecal p-cresol and possibly lower GABA concentrations. In addition, Fisher Discriminant Analysis (FDA) with leave-out-validation suggested that a group of metabolites-caprate, nicotinate, glutamine, thymine, and aspartate-may potentially function as a modest biomarker to separate ASD participants from the neurotypical group (78% sensitivity and 81% specificity). Consistent with our previous Arizona cohort study, we also confirmed lower gut microbial diversity and reduced relative abundances of phylotypes most closely related to Prevotella copri in children with ASD. After multiple testing corrections, we also learned that relative abundances of Feacalibacterium prausnitzii and Haemophilus parainfluenzae were lower in feces of children with ASD. In conclusion, despite a relatively short list of fecal metabolites, the data in this study support that children with ASD have altered metabolite profiles in feces when compared with neurotypical children and warrant further investigation of metabolites in larger cohorts.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1416969
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-127135; PII: S1075996417302305
Journal Information:
Anaerobe, Vol. 49, Issue C; ISSN 1075-9964
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 184 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Rett Syndrome and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders Share Common Changes in Gut Microbial Community: A Descriptive Review journal August 2019
The Gut Microbiota and Dysbiosis in Autism Spectrum Disorders journal September 2018
The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis journal October 2019
The Role of Gut Microbiota in Gastrointestinal Symptoms of Children with ASD journal July 2019
The contribution of microbiology to neuroscience: More complex than it seems? journal January 2019
Altered Gut Microbiota in Chinese Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders journal March 2019
Altered composition and function of intestinal microbiota in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review journal January 2019
Impaired Spatial Cognition in Adult Rats Treated with Multiple Intracerebroventricular (ICV) Infusions of the Enteric Bacterial Metabolite, Propionic Acid, and Return to Baseline After 1 Week of No Treatment: Contribution to a Rodent Model of ASD journal March 2019
Untargeted Metabolomics for Autism Spectrum Disorders: Current Status and Future Directions journal September 2019
Systematic Analysis of Impact of Sampling Regions and Storage Methods on Fecal Gut Microbiome and Metabolome Profiles journal January 2020
The phenolic interactome and gut microbiota: opportunities and challenges in developing applications for schizophrenia and autism journal May 2019
Long-term benefit of Microbiota Transfer Therapy on autism symptoms and gut microbiota journal April 2019
Microbiota transplant therapy and autism: lessons for the clinic journal November 2019
Microbiome programming of brain development: implications for neurodevelopmental disorders journal March 2019
Probiotic supplementation in trained trotter horses: effect on blood clinical pathology data and urine metabolomic assessed in field journal August 2018
An approach to gut microbiota profile in children with autism spectrum disorder journal November 2019
Tobacco use and cessation in psychiatric disorders: National Institute of Mental Health report journal December 2008
Defining and Evaluating Microbial Contributions to Metabolite Variation in Microbiome-Metabolome Association Studies journal December 2019

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