Effect of ursodeoxycholic acid on the intestinal microbiota in children with chronic liver disease

Abstract

Ursodeoxycholic acid is a secondary bile acid (BA), present in humans at low concentrations, with well-known therapeutic properties, and was originally used to treat cholestatic liver disease. However, there are very few studies on the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid on the composition of the gut microbiota, especially in children with chronic liver diseases.Purpose. To determine differences in the taxonomic diversity of the fecal microbiota in children with chronic liver disease who receive or do not receive ursodeoxycholic acid.Material and methods. A metagenomic analysis of the intestinal microbiota of 24 children with chronic liver diseases (mean age 10.3 ± 4.7 years) was carried out with the identification of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The group included 18 children with autoimmune liver diseases and 6 children with non-autoimmune liver diseases. 17 children received ursodeoxycholic acid. The comparison group consisted of 7 children who did not receive ursodeoxycholic acid.Results. This study found that fecal samples from patients treated with ursodeoxycholic acid do not differ in the taxonomic diversity of the gut microbiota from samples from patients not treated with ursodeoxycholic acid. A more detailed study to determine the existing taxonomic diversity in samples of patients treated with ursodeoxycholic acid and not treated with ursodeoxycholic acid, using the sPLS-DA method, showed that taxa such as Streptococcus anginosus, Coprococcus eutactus, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, Angelakisella massiliensis and Gemella haemolysans dominated in patients not treated with ursodeoxycholic acid. And for patients receiving drugs with ursodeoxycholic acid, the dominance of the taxon Anaerostipes hadrus is typical. An analysis of differences in the percentage of intestinal microbiota bacterial species showed that patients receiving ursodeoxycholic acid had a higher count of Anaerostipes hadrus, while in patients not receiving ursodeoxycholic acid preparations, the count of Bacteroides dorei, Akkermansia muciniphila was significantly increased, and the counts of other bacteria were also increased.Conclusion. Studies have shown that ursodeoxycholic acid has a positive effect on the intestinal microbiota in children with chronic liver disease by increasing the number of microorganisms that produce short-chain fatty acids.