Relationship between Blood Microbiome and Neurotrophin Levels in Different Metabolic Types of Obesity

• Published in: Journal of evolutionary biochemistry and physiology Vol. 58; no. 6; pp. 1937 - 1949
• Main Authors: Kolesnikova, I. M., Gaponov, A. M., Roumiantsev, S. A., Karbyshev, M. S., Grigoryeva, T. V., Makarov, V. V., Yudin, S. M., Borisenko, O. V., Shestopalov, A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-11-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Physiology; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Blood; Body weight; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Evolutionary Biology; Experimental Papers; Intestinal microflora; Intestine; Life Sciences; Metabolic disorders; Metabolism; Microbiomes; Nerve growth factor; Neuropathy; Obesity; Permeability; Respiratory tract; rRNA 16S; Variable region; nerve growth factor; BDNF; metabolically healthy obesity; metabolically unhealthy obesity; brain-derived neurotrophic factor; blood microbiome; NGF; neurotrophins; blood bacterial DNA; obesity
• ISSN: 0022-0930; 1608-3202
• DOI: 10.1134/S0022093022060229

Blood bacterial DNA is one of the pathogen-associated molecular patterns whose signaling pathways can alter the expression of neurotrophins, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). The study of neurotrophins is interesting in the context of obesity, which is associated with the risk of neuropathy. At the same time, the risk of complications depends on the metabolic type of obesity: in the metabolically unhealthy type (MUHO), this risk is significantly higher than in the metabolically healthy (MHO). The aim was to study the relationship between blood microbiome taxa and serum BDNF and NGF levels in different metabolic types of obesity. Healthy non-obese donors (
n
= 114) and obese patients (
n
= 98) were examined. Obese patients were divided into subgroups depending on the obesity metabolic type: patients with MHO (
n
= 36) and patients with MUHO (
n
= 53). Serum concentrations of neurotrophins were measured, and qualitative assessment of the blood microbiome was carried out by sequencing the variable region of the 16S rRNA gene. In healthy donors, taxa translocated from the skin and respiratory tract were negatively associated with BDNF, but in obesity, especially MUHO, this relationship was positive. Taxa translocated from the stomach (
Helicobacter pylori
) and intestine (
Sutterella
spp.) were negatively associated with BDNF in obese patients. NGF in healthy donors was positively associated with
Akkermansia muciniphila
, the taxon supporting intestinal integrity and reducing intestinal permeability. Patients with MUHO had a positive relationship between NGF and
Ruminococcus bromii
. Numerous negative relationships between the taxa of the intestinal flora and NGF were found in healthy donors and patients with MUHO, but not with MHO. In general, the effect of blood bacterial DNA on the serum concentration of neurotrophins depends on the translocation sources, permeability of the outer barriers, characteristics of microbiomes (gut, skin, etc.), as well as the presence or absence of metabolic disorders in patients with different body weight.