Oral microbiome in older adults with mild cognitive impairment

Dongxin Da; Qianhua Zhao; Hao Zhang; Wanqing Wu; Xiaoli Zeng; Xiaoniu Liang; Yiwei Jiang; Zhenxu Xiao; Jin Yu; Saineng Ding; Li Zheng; Ying Zhang; Xiaogang Xu; Ding Ding

doi:10.1080/20002297.2023.2173544

Oral microbiome in older adults with mild cognitive impairment

J Oral Microbiol. 2023 Feb 1;15(1):2173544. doi: 10.1080/20002297.2023.2173544. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Dongxin Da¹, Qianhua Zhao^{2

3

4

5}, Hao Zhang^{1

6}, Wanqing Wu^{2

3

4}, Xiaoli Zeng^{1

6}, Xiaoniu Liang^{2

3

4}, Yiwei Jiang^{1

6}, Zhenxu Xiao^{2

3

4}, Jin Yu^{1

6}, Saineng Ding^{2

3

4}, Li Zheng^{2

3

4}, Ying Zhang^{1

6}, Xiaogang Xu⁷, Ding Ding^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive Dentistry, Shanghai Stomatological Hospital& School of Stomatology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Institute of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
³ National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Craniomaxillofacial Development and Diseases, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁷ Institute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

The association between the oral microbiome and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate such an association among Chinese older adults. Participants without dementia were recruited from the community. A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to evaluate the cognitive function. The diagnosis of MCI was based on Peterson's criteria. The non-stimulated saliva was collected to extract sequences of the oral microbiome. Forty-seven MCI and 47 cognitively normal participants were included. There was significant difference in alpha diversity and insignificant difference in beta diversity between the two groups of participants. Compared with the cognitively normal group, Gemella haemolysans and Streptococcus gordonii were two significantly decreased species while Veillonella unclassified_Veillonella and Fusobacterium sp._HMT_203 were two significantly increased species in the MCI group. The richness of Gemella haemolysans presented the best discriminate value for MCI with the AUC (Area Under Curve) of 0.707, a cut-off value of 0.008 for relative abundance, the sensitivity of 63.8% and specificity of 70.2%. The dysbiosis of oral microbiome and relative abundance of Gemella haemolysans was significantly associated with MCI. Further studies were needed to develop new treatment strategies targeting the oral microbiome for cognitive impairment.

Keywords: 16S rDNA; Oral microbiome; bioinformatic analysis; mild cognitive impairment; older adults.

Grants and funding

Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project [2018SHZDZX01] and ZJ LAB, Key Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China [2021YFE0111800] supported data and sample collection. Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission [19JC1413002,17411950704] supported the 16S rDNA Sequencing. The Shanghai Stomatological Hospital School-level Key Department and Innovative Team Project [SSDC-2019-ZDXK01,SSDC-2020-CXTD-A03], Clinical Research Program from Shanghai Health Commission [2020YJZX0117,20194Y0142], Biomedical Engineering Project of Fudan University[yg2021-010], National Natural Science Foundation of China[82071200] and Clinical Research Plan of Shanghai Hospital Development Center [SHDC2020CR4007] supported the sample collection, analysis, interpretation of data and manuscript writing. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.