Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by stereotyped behavior and deficits in communication and social interactions. Gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction is an ASD-associated comorbidity, implying a potential role of the gut microbiota in ASD GI pathophysiology. Several recent studies found that autistic individuals harbor an altered bacterial gut microbiota. In some cases, remodeling the gut microbiota by antibiotic administration and microbiota transfer therapy reportedly alleviated the symptoms of ASD. However, there is little consensus on specific bacterial species that are similarly altered across individual studies. The aim of this study is to summarize previously published data and analyze the alteration of the relative abundance of bacterial genera in the gut microbiota in controls and individuals with ASD using meta-analysis. We analyzed nine studies, including 254 patients with ASD, and found that children with ASD had lower percentages of Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, and Parabacteroides and a higher percentage of Faecalibacterium in the total detected microflora compared to controls. In contrast, children with ASD had lower abundance of Enterococcus, Escherichia coli, Bacteroides, and Bifidobacterium and higher abundance of Lactobacillus. This meta-analysis suggests an association between ASD and alteration of microbiota composition and warrants additional prospective cohort studies to evaluate the association of bacterial changes with ASD symptoms, which would provide further evidence for the precise microbiological treatment of ASD.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by stereotyped behavior and deficits in communication and social interactions
The random-effects and fixed-effects models showed a lower relative abundance of E. coli and Enterococcus in children with ASD compared to controls (SMD −0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI): −1.18 to 0.52 and standardized mean difference (SMD) −0.14, 95% CI: −0.47 to 0.20, respectively; Figure 4B and 4C)
The present meta-analysis found that neither there were significant changes in the intestinal microbial diversity nor single microbial species may be perceived as “ASD-promoting microbes.”Our analyses showed that participants with ASD had a lower abundance of Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, E. coli, and Enterococcus, a higher abundance of Faecalibacterium and Lactobacillus, and a slightly increased abundance of Ruminococcus and Clostridium
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by stereotyped behavior and deficits in communication and social interactions. Over millennia, selected microbiota have become resident in the human GI tract, which is integrated with the immune system, metabolism, and nervous system [13, 14]. These gut-adapted bacteria and their metabolites might have a critical role in the pathophysiology of ASD. To better understand the effect of gut microbes on ASD, we carried out a meta-analysis to assess the differences in microbial populations between patients with ASD and age-matched controls.
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