Abstract
BackgroundGut microbiota plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes of the host organism, including aging. Microbiota composition was shown to vary significantly throughout the life course. Age-related changes in the composition of microbiota were reported in several human studies. In present study, age-related dynamics of phylogenetic profile of gut microbiota was investigated in 1550 healthy participants from Ukrainian population.ResultsSignificant changes in the microbiota composition determined by qRT-PCR at the level of major microbial phyla across age groups have been observed. The relative abundance of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes phyla increased, while that of Bacteroidetes decreased from childhood to elderly age. Accordingly, the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio was shown to significantly increase until elder age. In both sexes, odds to have F/B > 1 tended to increase with age, reaching maximum values in elder age groups [OR = 2.7 (95% CI, 1.2–6.0) and OR = 3.7 (95% CI, 1.4–9.6) for female and male 60–69-year age groups, respectively, compared to same-sex reference (0–9-year) age groups].ConclusionsIn conclusion, data from our study indicate that composition of the human intestinal microbiota at the level of major microbial phyla significantly differs across age groups. In both sexes, the F/B ratio tends to increase with age from 0–9-year to 60–69-year age groups. Further studies are needed for a better understanding of mechanisms underlying age-related dynamics of human microbiota composition.
Highlights
Gut microbiota plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes of the host organism, including aging
Accumulating evidence from both animal models and human studies indicates that gut microbiota composition plays an important role in the host aging and determines the potential of longevity [8]
The age-related changes in microbiota composition, can not necessarily be caused by aging process per se, but they might be associated with general decline in health status caused by malnutrition or increased need for medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or antibiotics [18]
Summary
Gut microbiota plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes of the host organism, including aging. The disruption of the healthy microbial community may cause systemic pathological conditions such as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes and cancer [5, 6] Both composition of gut microbiota and, microbiome (collective genomes of all the microbes inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract) were shown to vary significantly throughout the life course [7,8,9]. In elderly (more than 65-year-old) individuals, a reduction in the diversity of microbiome along with greater inter-individual microbiota variations have been observed compared to adult ones [18, 19] Accumulating evidence from both animal models and human studies indicates that gut microbiota composition plays an important role in the host aging and determines the potential of longevity [8]. The age-related changes in microbiota composition, can not necessarily be caused by aging process per se, but they might be associated with general decline in health status caused by malnutrition or increased need for medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or antibiotics [18]
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