Gut Microbiota Composition Changes in Constipated Women of Reproductive Age

作者：Hongxia Li, Jianwei Chen, Xiaojing Ren, Chuanli Yang, Shuai Liu, Xinshu Bai, Shuhua Shan, Xiushan Dong · 发表于：Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.3389/fcimb.2020.557515 · 被引用次数：60 · 研究领域：Gut microbiota and health、Gastrointestinal motility and disorders、Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors

Background Chronic constipation is one of the most prevalent functional gastrointestinal disorders, yet its etiology is multifactorial, and the pathophysiological mechanism is still unclear. Previous studies have shown that the gut microbiota of constipated patients differs from healthy controls; however, many discrepancies exist in the findings, and no clear link has been confirmed between chronic constipation and changes in the gut microbiota. Growing evidence indicates that age, gender, and hormone levels can affect the composition of gut microbiota. The aim of this study is to examine the overall changes in gut microbiota within a specific sub-population of patients, namely, constipated women of reproductive age. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional study comparing the fecal microbial composition of 30 healthy women and 29 constipated women using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Only women of reproductive age were recruited to reduce the effects of age, gender, and hormone levels on the microbiome, and to prevent conflating the impact of these factors with the effects of constipation. Results There were obvious differences in the gut microbiota in constipated women of reproductive age compared with the healthy controls, manifesting mainly as a significant increase in the abundance of Bacteroides (p < 0.05) and a significant decrease in the abundance of Proteobacteria (p < 0.01). The overall composition of the gut microbiota in each group was different, which was reflected in...