Association Between Abundance of Haemophilus in the Gut Microbiota and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Cuizhen Zhu; Mingming Zheng; Usman Ali; Qingrong Xia; Zhongxian Wang; Chenlong; Lihui Yao; Yuanyuan Chen; Junwei Yan; Keming Wang; Jinghong Chen; Xulai Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.685910

Association Between Abundance of Haemophilus in the Gut Microbiota and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Front Psychiatry. 2021 Jul 30:12:685910. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.685910. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Cuizhen Zhu^{1

2

3}, Mingming Zheng^{1

2

3}, Usman Ali⁴, Qingrong Xia^{1

2

3}, Zhongxian Wang¹, Chenlong^{1

2

3}, Lihui Yao¹, Yuanyuan Chen¹, Junwei Yan^{1

2

3}, Keming Wang^{1

2

3}, Jinghong Chen⁴, Xulai Zhang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science and Education, Affiliated Psychological Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
² Anhui Clinical Center for Mental and Psychological Diseases, Hefei Fourth People's Hospital, Hefei, China.
³ Anhui Mental Health Center, Hefei, China.
⁴ Shanghai key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates an interaction between dysbiosis of the microbiota and the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. However, limited information is available on the specific microbial communities associated with symptoms of schizophrenia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate gut microbiota dysbiosis and its relationship with psychopathologies in schizophrenia. We recruited 126 participants and divided them into three groups according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, criteria-acute group (patients with acute schizophrenia), remission group (patients with schizophrenia in remission), and control group (healthy controls). Psychotic symptoms were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Microbiota compositions, diversity and community structure were evaluated using 16S rRNA sequencing. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to evaluate the association between bacterial taxa and psychotic symptoms. The beta-diversity of microbiota composition in the acute group was distinct from that in the remission and control groups (PC1 = 21.11% vs. PC2 = 12.86%, P = 0.021). Furthermore, Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that abundance of Haemophilus was positively correlated with negative psychiatric symptoms (r = 0.303, P = 0.021), while abundance of Coprococcus was negatively correlated with negative psychiatric symptoms (r = -0.285, P = 0.025). Moreover, abundance of Haemophilus was positively correlated with cognition (r = 0.428, P = 0.009), excitement (r = 0.266, P = 0.037), and depression (r = 0.295, P = 0.020). The study findings suggest that alterations in certain gut microbiota may interfere with psychological symptoms in schizophrenia. Our results provide evidence that may help in the development of therapeutic strategies using microbial-based targets. The data that support the findings of this study have been deposited in the NCBI (https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) with accession number SUB9453991.

Keywords: 16Sr RNA sequencing; gut microbiota; negative symptom; positive and negative syndrome scale; schizophrenia.