A Metabologenomic approach reveals alterations in the gut microbiota of a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 24;17(8):e0273036. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273036. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The key role played by host-microbiota interactions on human health, disease onset and progression, and on host response to treatments has increasingly emerged in the latest decades. Indeed, dysbiosis has been associated to several human diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and also neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson, Huntington and Alzheimer's disease (AD), although whether causative, consequence or merely an epiphenomenon is still under investigation. In the present study, we performed a metabologenomic analysis of stool samples from a mouse model of AD, the 3xTgAD. We found a significant change in the microbiota of AD mice compared to WT, with a longitudinal divergence of the F/B ratio, a parameter suggesting a gut dysbiosis. Moreover, AD mice showed a significant decrease of some amino acids, while data integration revealed a dysregulated production of desaminotyrosine (DAT) and dihydro-3-coumaric acid. Collectively, our data show a dysregulated gut microbiota associated to the onset and progression of AD, also indicating that a dysbiosis can occur prior to significant clinical signs, evidenced by early SCFA alterations, compatible with gut inflammation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease*
  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dysbiosis
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome* / physiology
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases*

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) program “Departments of Excellence 2018-2022”, FOHN Project-Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale. The support of FAR 2019 (Progetti di Ateneo), the EU grant “PREMUROSA” (ID#860462), “ExcellMater” (ID #952033) H2020 projects, and AGING Project – Department of Excellence – DIMET are also acknowledged. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.