They find that ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are associated with sulfur metabolism.

Age-related neurodegenerative diseases associated with amyloid aggregation remain one of the most serious problems of modern medicine. It has long been known that changes in the gastrointestinal microbiome play an active role in the etiology of neurological disorders.

Now, a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology reports different bacterial and metabolite profiles in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative pathologies.

In particular, the study pointed to the DHPS metabolite as a possible missing link in our understanding of how gut microbes influence neurodegenerative diseases through sulfur metabolic pathways.

“These findings suggest that the gut microbiome plays an important role in the onset and progression of at least some neurodegenerative diseases,” said Chris Ellis, principal investigator of a multi-institutional team of microbiologists from Netellis, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the University of North Carolina at Chapel. -Hill.

At ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, this researcher reported a new link in humans between a metabolite produced by gut microbes and three neurodegenerative diseases. Their analysis shows that DHPS metabolite (2,3-dihydroxypropane-1-sulfonate) may help answer important questions about how sulfur metabolic pathways may link the microbiome to these diseases.

DHPS has not previously been detected in humans, and the researchers noted that metabolites produced by gut microbes in patients with neurodegenerative diseases could provide valuable clues to better understanding, which could lead to better diagnostic tools or even treatments.

In previous studies, researchers found that fecal transplants can improve the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in mouse models, and when fecal transplants from people with the disease are given to mice, the animals show changes in memory function.

Researchers conducted a new study to identify distinct bacterial and metabolite profiles of the gut microbiome in people diagnosed with one of three neurodegenerative diseases: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

To collect data on the early stages of the disease, they collected stool samples from patients diagnosed during their first two visits to a specialist and compared the analysis of these samples with samples collected from healthy people.

Their analysis identified 19 metabolic biomarkers of neurodegeneration across three groups of neurodegenerative diseases.

They also found 20 unique markers for ALS, 16 unique markers for Alzheimer’s disease, and 9 unique markers for Parkinson’s disease. These common biomarkers included metabolites that were associated with a lack of stability in sulfur metabolic pathways.

Additionally, in all three disease groups, they found an association with the bacterial taxa Bilophila and Desulfovibrio, which play a role in the synthesis and degradation of DHPS.

These increased levels of Bilophila were consistent with the observation that Patients with ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease had lower levels of DHPS in stool samples compared to healthy subjects.

Bilophila can degrade DHPS to hydrogen sulfide, and the accumulation of hydrogen sulfide is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, which is known to contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Hydrogen sulfide is associated with known features of neurodegenerative diseases, including inflammation, oxidative stress, and disruption of gut flora (gut dysbiosis).

The authors suggested that the new study points to DHPS as a “missing link” in our current understanding of the mechanisms of how neurodegenerative diseases are linked to sulfur metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation.