Background

Recent studies have demonstrated an association between the gut microbiome and cognitive function. However, the associations between the gut microbiome and brain parenchyma damage, and their underlying mechanisms, remain unclear.

Materials and Methods

We performed a cross-sectional sub-analysis using data from our prospective cohort study to determine the association between the gut microbiome and cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). We assessed patient demographics, risk factors, cognitive function, brain imaging, voxel-based specific regional analysis system for Alzheimer's Disease (VSRAD, indicating brain atrophy), and the gut microbiome as indicated by enterotypes and faecal microbiome metabolites. We then analysed the associations between total SVD scores, cognitive function, and the gut microbiome.

Results

We analysed data from 87 patients without dementia or a history of stroke, 64 of whom exhibited mild cognitive impairment. Higher total SVD scores were associated with cognitive decline and behavioural and psychological symptoms. Compared with all other patients, patients with enterotype I (Bacteroides >30%) were more likely to have cognitive decline (median scores: Mini-Mental State Examination, 25 vs. 27, P = 0.047; Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes, 1.5 vs. 0.5, P = 0.002) and present with cerebral SVD and high VSRAD scores (1.01 vs. 0.57, P = 0.012). Furthermore, faecal metabolites were significantly higher in patients with higher total SVD scores compared with those with lower scores. Multivariable logistic regression analyses indicated that certain gut microbiomes may double the risk of white matter hyperintensity.

Conclusions

The gut microbiome is associated with cerebral SVD.

中文翻译：

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脑小血管疾病与肠道微生物组之间的关联：跨部门分析。

背景

最近的研究表明肠道微生物组与认知功能之间存在关联。然而，肠道微生物组与脑实质损害之间的关联及其潜在机制尚不清楚。

材料和方法

我们使用前瞻性队列研究的数据进行了横断面亚分析，以确定肠道微生物组与脑小血管疾病（SVD）之间的关联。我们评估了患者的人口统计资料，危险因素，认知功能，脑成像，基于体素的阿尔茨海默氏病特定区域分析系统（VSRAD，表明脑萎缩）以及肠道微生物组（如肠型和粪便微生物组代谢物所示）。然后，我们分析了SVD总得分，认知功能和肠道微生物组之间的关联。

结果

我们分析了87位无痴呆或中风病史的患者的数据，其中64位表现出轻度认知障碍。较高的SVD总分与认知能力下降以及行为和心理症状相关。与所有其他患者相比，肠型I（细菌含量> 30％）的患者更容易出现认知能力下降（中位数：小精神状态检查，25 vs. 27，P  = 0.047；临床痴呆症等级-盒总和， 1.5 vs. 0.5，P  = 0.002），并伴有大脑SVD和VSRAD高分（1.01 vs. 0.57，P = 0.012）。此外，总SVD评分较高的患者的粪便代谢产物明显高于评分较低的患者。多变量logistic回归分析表明，某些肠道微生物群可能会使白质高信号的风险增加一倍。

结论

肠道微生物组与大脑SVD相关。