Characteristics of intestinal microbiota parameters in young people with metabolic syndrome

Objective. To study the features of the colon microbiota, as well as the associations of microbial representatives with anthropometric, anamnestic and biochemical parameters in young patients with metabolic syndrome.

Materials and methods. 118 young people took part in a single-center, one stage, controlled study. 87 of them were diagnosed with obesity, and 31 people with normal body weight formed the control group (“C”). 87 obese patients were divided into 2 groups: “MS-” which consisted of 43 people (49.4 %), and “MS+” including 44 people (50.6 %) with metabolic syndrome. When stratifying the groups, the NCEP ATP III criteria were used. Blood for biochemical test was taken from all the participants, and the condition of the colon microbiota was assessed using polymerase chain reaction («Colonoflor-16 (premium)»). The Microsoft Excel 2010 and IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 application software package were used for statistical calculations. The results were evaluated as statistically significant at a level of p < 0.05.

Results. In the MS+ group Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fusobacteriaceae family) was detected statistically significantly more often than in individuals from group “C” (40.5 %). Differences in the bacterial composition of the intestinal microbiota between two groups of obese people were revealed: in the “MS+” group there was a significant decrease in bacteria of the genus Bifidobacterium (Bifidobacteriaceae family), Prevotella (Prevotellaceae family) and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (Ruminococcaceae family) (p < 0.05). In addition, correlation patterns between the species and generic composition of the microbiota on the one hand and age, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, breastfeeding duration, indicators of carbohydrate (glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR index) and lipid (total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoproteins, very low-density lipoproteins, high-density lipoproteins) metabolism, CRP on the other hand have been established.

Conclusions. The colon microbiota in obese patients is characterized by proinflammatory changes. For the metabolically unhealthy phenotype of obesity these changes are most characteristic. It is clear that further research is needed to determine the mechanisms underlying the influence of bacterial-fungal associations on metabolism in obese individuals, as these mechanisms are likely to play a key role in the development of metabolic diseases.