Cited by 28Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and TreatmentsOlfactory and Sensory Function StudiesGut microbiota and health

Deep Nasal Sinus Cavity Microbiota Dysbiosis in Parkinson’s Disease

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Pal, Gian, Ramirez, Vivian, Engen, Phillip A., Naqib, Ankur, Forsyth, Christopher B., Green, Stefan J., Mahdavinia, Mahboobeh, Batra, Pete S. +2 more·2021·npj Parkinson s Disease

Abstract

Olfactory dysfunction is a pre-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that appears years prior to diagnosis and can affect quality of life in PD. Changes in microbiota community in deep nasal cavity near the olfactory bulb may trigger the olfactory bulb-mediated neuroinflammatory cascade and eventual dopamine loss in PD. To determine if the deep nasal cavity microbiota of PD is significantly altered in comparison to healthy controls, we characterized the microbiota of the deep nasal cavity using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in PD subjects and compared it to that of spousal and non-spousal healthy controls. Correlations between microbial taxa and PD symptom severity were also explored. Olfactory microbial communities of PD individuals were more similar to those of their spousal controls than to non-household controls. In direct comparison of PD and spousal controls and of PD and non-spousal controls, significantly differently abundant taxa were identified, and this included increased relative abundance of putative opportunistic-pathobiont species such as Moraxella catarrhalis. M. catarrhalis was also significantly correlated with more severe motor scores in PD subjects. This proof-of-concept study provides evidence that potential pathobionts are detected in the olfactory bulb and that a subset of changes in the PD microbiota community could be a consequence of unique environmental factors associated with PD living. We hypothesize that an altered deep nasal microbiota, characterized by a putative pro-inflammatory microbial community, could trigger neuroinflammation in PD.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41531-021-00254-y

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  • The discrepancy in nasal microbiota findings probably reflects difficulty in considering variables such as sampling location, collection method and analysis pipeline, which often differ among studies.

    “This discrepancy probably reflects the struggle to consider different variables, such as sampling location, collection method and analysis pipeline, which often differ among studies [503].”
  • Olfactory dysfunction is an early marker of PD that arises far before motor symptoms.

    “Since olfactory dysfunction is an early marker of PD, which arises far before the appearance of the motor symptoms, few authors started to investigate the potential role of nasal microbiota in disease pathogenesis [503].”
  • 16SrRNA sequencing of the deep nasal cavity in PD patients versus healthy controls revealed a positive correlation between abundance of Moraxella catarrhalis and motor symptoms in PD.

    “So far, the only evidence comes from a study by Pal et al., who performed 16SrRNA sequencing of the deep nasal cavity in PD patients versus healthy controls and revealed a positive correlation between the abundance of the opportunistic bacterium Moraxella catarrhalis and motor symptoms in PD [503].”

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  1. Oksanen, J. et al. Package “vegan” Title Community Ecology Package. Community Ecol. Package 2, 1–297 (2019).

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Authors
Pal, G., Ramirez, V., Engen, P. A., Naqib, A., Forsyth, C. B., Green, S. J., Mahdavinia, M., Batra, P. S., Tajudeen, B. A., & Keshavarzian, A.
Affiliations
Rush University Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Keshavarzian, Ali
Venue
npj Parkinson s Disease
Published
2021-12-08
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
111-111
ISSN
2373-8057 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4200595710
Cited by
28
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6
FWCI
2.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • npj Parkinson s Disease (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Rush University
  • National Institutes of Health (2kl2tr002387-06)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (KL2‐TR002387)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
Keywords
Parkinson's disease, dysbiosis, olfactory dysfunction, olfactory bulb, Moraxella catarrhalis, pathobionts, neuroinflammation, motor impairment severity, spousal control, environmental factors

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