Cited by 502Gut microbiota and healthAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms

Gut microbiota regulate Alzheimer’s disease pathologies and cognitive disorders via PUFA-associated neuroinflammation

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Chen, Chun, Liao, Jianming, Xia, Yiyuan, Liu, Xia, Jones, Rheinallt, Haran, John, McCormick, Beth, Sampson, Timothy Robert +2 more·2022·Gut

Abstract

Objective: This study is to investigate the role of gut dysbiosis in triggering inflammation in the brain and its contribution to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Design: We analysed the gut microbiota composition of 3×Tg mice in an age-dependent manner. We generated germ-free 3×Tg mice and recolonisation of germ-free 3×Tg mice with fecal samples from both patients with AD and age-matched healthy donors. Results: Microbial 16S rRNA sequencing revealed Bacteroides enrichment. We found a prominent reduction of cerebral amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles pathology in germ-free 3×Tg mice as compared with specific-pathogen-free mice. And hippocampal RNAseq showed that inflammatory pathway and insulin/IGF-1 signalling in 3×Tg mice brain are aberrantly altered in the absence of gut microbiota. Poly-unsaturated fatty acid metabolites identified by metabolomic analysis, and their oxidative enzymes were selectively elevated, corresponding with microglia activation and inflammation. AD patients’ gut microbiome exacerbated AD pathologies in 3×Tg mice, associated with C/EBPβ/asparagine endopeptidase pathway activation and cognitive dysfunctions compared with healthy donors’ microbiota transplants. Conclusions: These findings support that a complex gut microbiome is required for behavioural defects, microglia activation and AD pathologies, the gut microbiome contributes to pathologies in an AD mouse model and that dysbiosis of the human microbiome might be a risk factor for AD.

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Authors
Chen, C., Liao, J., Xia, Y., Liu, X., Jones, R., Haran, J., McCormick, B., Sampson, T. R., Alam, A., & Ye, K.
Affiliations
  • Emory University (US)
  • University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
  • University of Kentucky (US)
Corresponding author
Ye, Keqiang
Venue
Gut
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2022-01-11
Volume
71
Issue
11
Pages
2233-2252
ISSN
  • 0017-5749 (ISSN-L)
  • 1468-3288
OpenAlex
W4205897663
Cited by
491
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 116 · 2025: 141 · 2024: 136 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 19
FWCI
31.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Gut (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (UL1TR002378)
  • Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University (P30 AG066511)
  • National Institute of Health (RO1, AG065177)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, gut microbiota, gut dysbiosis, neuroinflammation, polyunsaturated fatty acids, microglial activation, neurofibrillary tangles, germ-free mice, fecal microbiota transplantation, Bacteroides, insulin/IGF-1 signalling, cognitive impairment, hippocampus
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Neuroinflammatory Diseases, Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Cognition, Disease Models, Animal, Fatty Acids, Unsaturated, Humans, Inflammation, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Mice, Plaque, Amyloid, Insulins, Dysbiosis

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