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Reduced Diversity and Imbalance of Fecal Microbiota in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

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Abstract

Background

Clinical observations and experimental colitis models have indicated the importance of intestinal bacteria in the etiology of ulcerative colitis (UC), but a causative bacterial agent has not been identified.

Aim

To determine how intestinal bacteria are associated with UC, fecal microbiota and other components were compared for UC patients and healthy adults.

Methods

Fresh feces were collected from 48 UC patients. Fecal microbiota were analyzed by use of terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), real-time PCR, and culture. The concentrations of organic acids, indole, and ammonia, and pH and moisture, which are indicators of the intestinal environment, were measured and compared with healthy control data.

Results

T-RFLP data divided the UC patients into four clusters; one cluster was obtained for healthy subjects. The diversity of fecal microbiota was significantly lower in UC patients. There were significantly fewer Bacteroides and Clostridium subcluster XIVab, and the amount of Enterococcus was higher in UC patients than in healthy subjects. The fecal concentration of organic acids was significantly lower in UC patients who were in remission.

Conclusion

UC patients have imbalances in the intestinal environment—less diversity of fecal microbiota, lower levels of major anaerobic bacteria (Bacteroides and Clostridium subcluster XIVab), and a lower concentration of organic acids.

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Acknowledgments

We express our appreciation to Dr Masako Sei for helpful advice on the statistical analysis, Dr Chiho Goto for instructive advice on the analysis of dietary habits in the subjects, Mr Shigeo Misawa for technical support with the T-RFLP analysis, Mr Hirofumi Niki for technical support with quantification of organic acids by gas chromatography, and Miss Saori Nagae and Miss Azusa Matsumoto for counting the number of Gram-stained bacteria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology and Parasitology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, 770-8503, Japan

    Hideyuki Nemoto, Keiko Kataoka, Kazue Ikata, Hideki Arimochi, Yoshinari Ohnishi & Koji Yasutomo

  2. Genmai Koso Co., Ltd., Nishi 1-chome, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 001-0012, Japan

    Hideyuki Nemoto & Teruaki Iwasaki

  3. Department of Molecular-Targeting Cancer Prevention, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 3-2-17-2F, Imabashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 541-0042, Japan

    Hideki Ishikawa

  4. Department of Molecular Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Mikicho, Kida District, Kagawa, 7610793, Japan

    Tomomi Kuwahara

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  1. Hideyuki Nemoto
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  2. Keiko Kataoka
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  3. Hideki Ishikawa
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Correspondence to Keiko Kataoka.

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Nemoto, H., Kataoka, K., Ishikawa, H. et al. Reduced Diversity and Imbalance of Fecal Microbiota in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis. Dig Dis Sci 57, 2955–2964 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-012-2236-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-012-2236-y

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