Autistic children have significantly different gut bacteria
Posted 4 months ago by Jacob in General Health News
Autism and gastrointestinal problems are often closely associated, for reasons unknown to medical science. A new study, conducted by Brent Williams and colleagues from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, has revealed that the composition of gut microbiota in autistic children differs to that of non-autistic children in at least one significant way. Many children with autism have been found to host a specific genera of bacteria that non-autistic children do not.
Earlier research has shown that autistic individuals with gastrointestinal problems often exhibit inflammation and other abnormalities in the small and large intestinal tracts. However, as of yet, the cause of these problems and how it may link to the developmental disorders that characterise autism is still to be discovered.
The new study from Brent Williams and his team of researchers found that a large proportion of autistic children hosted species of bacteria belonging to the Sutterella genus, but the organisms were not found to be present in any non-austistic children. The results were discovered by examining tissue samples from the gastrointestinal tracts of autistic and non-autistic children and presents uniquely powerful evidence. Jorge Benach, Chairman of the Department of Microbiology at Stony Brook University and independent reviewer of the research commented, "Most work that has been done linking the gut microbiome with autism has been done with stool samples." Microorganisms that are shed in the stools do not necessarily represent the microbes that line the intestinal wall. He continued, "What may show up in a stool sample may be different from what is directly attached to the tissue."
Benach concluded that this study, although statistically powerful, requires further research to determine, specifically, what role Sutterella plays in the gastrointestinal conditions suffered by autistic individuals.
Read our article on Probiotics and Autism.
Reference
Williams, B. et al (2011) Application of Novel PCR-Based Methods for Detection, Quantitation, and Phylogenetic Characterization of Sutterella Species in Intestinal Biopsy Samples from Children with Autism and Gastrointestinal Disturbances. Published by mbio.asm.org
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