Unique link between gut flora and aging

The gut flora is an essential component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unknown. Researchers and co-workers at Sheetsle, a US-based Systems Biology Institute, have identified distinct features of the gut flora associated with healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories. This predicts the survival of the elderly population.The work has just been published in the journal Natural metabolism..

The research team analyzed the gut flora, phenotype, and clinical data of more than 9,000 people between the ages of 18 and 101 across three independent cohorts. The team specifically focused on longitudinal data from a cohort of more than 900 community-dwelling older people (ages 78-98), enabling them to track health and survival outcomes.

The data showed that the gut flora became more and more unique (that is, more and more different from other microbes) with age from mid to late adulthood. It is shared between humans.

Surprisingly, while the microbiome becomes more and more unique to each individual in healthy aging, the metabolic function that was performing the common features shared by the microbiome. This unique feature of the intestine was highly correlated with several microbial-derived metabolites in plasma, including one tryptophan-derived indole that was previously shown to extend the lifespan of mice. Blood levels of another metabolite, phenylacetylglutamine, have been shown to be most strongly associated with uniqueness, and previous studies have shown that this metabolite is actually very high in the blood of people over 100 years of age. Is shown.

“This unique feature can predict the survival of patients in the last few decades,” said Dr. Tomash Wilmanski, ISB research scientist who led the study. Healthy individuals, about 80 years old, showed a continuous microbial drift towards a unique compositional state, but this drift was not seen in unhealthy individuals.

“Interestingly, this unique pattern begins in middle age (40-50 years) and appears to be associated with clear signs of blood metabolomics. This is because changes in these microflora are simply healthy aging. It suggests that it may not only diagnose, but also contribute. As we grow older, we become directly healthy, “said Wilmanski. For example, indole is known to reduce intestinal inflammation, and chronic inflammation is thought to be a major driver of the progression of age-related pathological conditions.

“Previous results from microbiome aging studies appear to be inconsistent, with some reports showing a decrease in core gut genus in the population over 100 years of age, and microbiota until the onset of aging-related health deterioration. There are also reports showing the relative stability of the microbiome, “said the microbiome expert. .. SeanGibbons, co-author of this treatise. “Our first work, incorporating a detailed analysis of health and survival, may resolve these contradictions. Specifically, it shows two different aging trajectories. 1) Living in a community Consistent with previous results for people over 100 years of age, a decrease in core microbes in healthy individuals and a consequent increase in uniqueness, and 2) maintenance of core microbes in unhealthy individuals. “

This analysis shows that the adult intestinal microflora continues to develop in healthy individuals but not in unhealthy individuals, and that the composition of the health-related microbiota in early to mid-adult is late adult. It emphasizes the fact that it may be incompatible with your health.

“This is an exciting study that we consider to have major clinical implications for monitoring and altering the health of the gut flora throughout a person’s life,” said ISB, co-author of this paper. Professor Nathan Price said.

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