The Gut Microbiome and Metabolomics Profiles of Restricting and Binge-Purging Type Anorexia Nervosa.

Alessio Maria Monteleone,Simona Calugi,Palmiero Monteleone,Giammarco Cascino,Riccardo Dalle Grave,Alessio Fasano,Gloria Serena,Giovanni Scala,Francesca Marciello,Jacopo Troisi,Giulio Corrivetti

doi:10.3390/nu13020507

Abstract

Alterations in the gut microbiome and fecal metabolites have been detected in anorexia nervosa (AN), but differences in those profiles between restricting AN (ANR) and binge-purging AN (ANBP) type have not been explored. We made a secondary analysis of our previous data concerning microbiome and metabolomics profiles of 17 ANR women, six ANBP women and 20 healthy controls (HC). Twelve fecal metabolites differentiating ANR patients, ANBP patients and HC were identified. Both patient groups showed decreased intra-individual bacterial richness with respect to healthy controls (HC). Compared to ANR subjects, ANBP patients had a significant increase in relative abundances of Bifidobacterium, Bifidobacteriaceae, Bifidobacteriales, and Eubacteriacae and a significant decrease in relative abundances of Odoribacter, Haemophilus, Pasteurellaceae, and Pasteurellales. The heatmaps of the relationships of selected fecal metabolites with microbial families showed different structures among the three groups, with the heatmap of ANBP patients being drastically different from that of HC, while that of ANR patients resulted more similar to HC. These findings, although preliminary because of the relatively small sample size, confirm the occurrence of different gut dysbiosis in ANR and ANBP and demonstrate different connections between gut microorganisms and fecal metabolites in the two AN types.

Highlights

It is widely acknowledged that in both animals and humans, the gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in several physiological processes, which may have a potential influence on human behavior and are essential for the maintenance of body homeostasis [1,2,3]
Both patient groups had significantly lower body mass index (BMI) and higher psychopathological measures compared to healthy controls (HC)
We found that a partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) 3-class model identified 13 fecal metabolites with a variables important in projection (VIP) score higher than 1.5 that were able to differentiate between patients with ANR, those with ANBP, and HC with no overlap among the three groups

Summary

Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that in both animals and humans, the gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in several physiological processes, which may have a potential influence on human behavior and are essential for the maintenance of body homeostasis [1,2,3]. Several environmental factors affect the composition of gut microbiota and, among them, the type and the composition of the individual’s diet seem to be major determinants. Variations in both short- and long-term dietary patterns have been shown to rapidly affect the composition of the gut microbiota [7,8]. Alterations in stress response, brain neurochemistry, and behavior are indicative of a reduction in anxiety have been detected in mice lacking intestinal microbial load [3], and a role for the gut microbiota in the regulation of host appetite and body weight has been widely demonstrated [9,10,11]

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Conclusion