亨廷顿舞蹈病与肠道菌群失调存在关联

[本文来自：www.ii77.com]

澳大利亚研究人员最新发现，患有亨廷顿舞蹈病实验鼠的肠道微生物组成与健康鼠显著不同。这一研究为证明亨廷顿舞蹈病与肠道菌群失调存在关联提供了初步证据，表明肠道微生物在大脑疾病中起着重要作用。

亨廷顿舞蹈病是一种染色体显性遗传所导致的脑部退化疾病，症状表现为舞蹈性运动以及认知和行为障碍，目前没有治疗方法。

澳大利亚墨尔本大学研究人员在对比健康鼠和被基因改造后患有亨廷顿舞蹈病实验鼠的肠道微生物后发现，病鼠的肠道微生物组成与健康鼠显著不同，病鼠达到１２周龄时其肠道内的拟杆菌数量增加，而厚壁菌的数量成比例递减。此外，雄性病鼠的肠道微生物的多样性增加，但其肠道功能逐渐失灵，它们吃得多而体重并没有增加很多，而且亨廷顿舞蹈病的初期症状也在这个时候显现。

之前研究已发现在阿尔茨海默病、帕金森氏症、自闭症、抑郁症、慢性疲劳综合征、２型糖尿病等疾病患者中都出现了肠道微生物变化。研究人员希望能够通过了解肠道微生物和这些疾病之间的联系来开发出新的相关治疗方法。

论文作者之一、墨尔本大学的安东尼·汉南教授认为，鉴于实验鼠肠道内微生物与人体肠道内微生物相似，因此开展这种研究具有直接的临床意义。

该研究成果已发表在美国《疾病神经生物学》学术刊物上。

中文来源： 新华网

Source：Neurobiology of disease

First evidence of disrupted gut bacteria in Huntington’s disease revealed

Australian researchers have for the first time examined the gut microbiome in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease, and found dramatic differences between healthy and diseased mice.

The research points to the urgent need for follow-up studies in humans to validate the findings. The study provides even more evidence that the gut plays a significant role in diseases of the brain.

Professor Anthony Hannan, a world-renowned authority on the disease processes underlying Huntington’s, was the first to show that environmental enrichment can slow down the inexorable decline.

Now, Professor Hannan, Geraldine Kong and colleagues have probed the relative levels of gut bacteria in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease, and found dramatic differences between healthy mice and genetically engineered mice that will develop Huntington’s as they age.

Male Huntington’s disease mice had different proportions of various bacteria compared to their healthy siblings.Intriguingly, they also ate more food but gained weight at a lower rate.

At the same time, the gut becomes dysfunctional, excreting excess water in faecal matter.

The first movement symptoms of the diseasealso appeared at this time, although the researchers are unable to say at this stage whether the altered microbiome (the billions of bacteria that live in thegut) plays any role in the timing of symptom onset.

According to Professor Hannan: “Gut microbiome changes have already been described in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, autism, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, type 2 diabetes and other diseases, with researchers excited about the possibility that understanding the link between the microbiome and disease could lead to new therapeutic approaches.”

“Before we jump that hurdle, we really need to know whether these same changes are seen in Huntington’s patients. I strongly suspect they will be, as this is a very accurate model of the disease.  Furthermore, the bacteria that live in thegut of mice are similar to those in the human gut, therefore such microbiome studies have direct clinical relevance.”

About Huntington’s disease:

Huntington’s disease is a fatal degenerative disease inherited from a parent, in which brain cells begin to dieleading to onset of symptoms in a person’s mid-30s to 40s, and sometimes earlier (five per cent of sufferers have juvenile onset).

Dysfunctional and dying brain cells cause gradually worsening movement symptoms, dementia and eventually death.  Huntington’s patients can also suffer from psychiatric symptoms, including depression.

Over 2500 Australians are diagnosed with Huntington’s at any one time - approximately the same frequency as other neurodegenerative diseases like motor neurone disease. Huntington’s is causedby a mutated copy (a ‘genetic stutter’) of the Huntington gene.

Family members who inherit the genemutation will always get the disease, and have a 50 per cent chance of passingit on to their children. Huntington’s research is chronically under-funded and therefore under-studied.

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