A Cross-Sectional Study of the Gut Microbiota Composition in Moscow Long-Livers.

Daria A Kashtanova,Olga N Tkacheva,Oksana E Glushchenko,Denis A Gudkov,Elizaveta V Starikova,Nataliya S Klimenko,Irina D Strazhesko

doi:10.3390/microorganisms8081162

Abstract

The aim was to assess the gut microbiota of long-livers from Moscow. This study included two groups of patients who signed their consent to participate. The group of long-livers (LL) included 20 participants aged 97–100 years (4 men and 16 women). The second group included 22 participants aged 60–76 years (6 men) without clinical manifestations of chronic diseases (healthy elderly). Gut microbiota was studied by 16S rRNA sequencing. Long-livers underwent a complex geriatric assessment as well as expanded blood biochemistry. Gut microbiota composition in the cohorts was also compared with microbiome in long-livers from Japan and Italy. Russian long-livers’ microbiome contained more beneficial bacteria than healthy elderly including Ruminococcaceae, Christensenellaceae, Lactobacillaceae families. Conditional pathogens like Veillonellaceae, Mogibacteriaceae, Alcaligenaceae, Peptococcaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae were more abundant in the healthy elderly. Compared with Italian and Japanese microbiome LL, the Russian LL appeared to be more similar to the Italian cohort. Bifidobacterium/Coprococcus and Faecalibacterium/Coprococcus balances were associated with femoral and carotid intima–media thickness, respectively. Bifidobacterium/Coriobacteriaceae balance was assessed with the folic acid level and Faecalibacterium/Coriobacteriaceae_u the with Mini Nutritional Assessment score. Long-livers’ microbiome appeared to be unexpectedly balanced. The high representation of beneficial bacteria in long-livers may prevent them from low-grade inflammation and thus protect them from the development of atherosclerosis and other aging-associated conditions.

Highlights

The planet’s population is steadily aging, and the healthcare system is faced with the task of prolonging the active period of life and finding methods for the effective prevention of age-associated conditions that impose a large burden on medicine, and on the economy as a whole
We described the composition of the gut microbiota in a cohort of long-livers from Moscow, which has not yet been studied by using new generation sequencing
The analysis of taxa contribution to the main principal components shows that the gut microbiota of long-livers was more populated with symbiotic bacteria like unclassified genera from the Ruminococcaceae and Christensenellaceae family (Figure 1A)

Summary

Introduction

The planet’s population is steadily aging, and the healthcare system is faced with the task of prolonging the active period of life and finding methods for the effective prevention of age-associated conditions that impose a large burden on medicine, and on the economy as a whole. The first years of a child’s life are important for the maturation of the microbiota [2], as this is the period of the “microbiota core” formation. Perhaps this is the period that is essential for maintaining health throughout life. There are a small number of people who can be called “successfully aging,” which are long-livers (90 y.o. and older) As it turns out, the composition of their microbiota does not change so dramatically, and some studies suggest that the long-livers’ microbiome preserves high levels of beneficial bacteria and the potential for the synthesis of important metabolites against the background of a low representation of conditional pathogens [7,8]. We described the composition of the gut microbiota in a cohort of long-livers from Moscow, which has not yet been studied by using new generation sequencing

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion