Methadone maintenance treatment is more effective than compulsory detoxification in addressing gut microbiota dysbiosis caused by heroin abuse

Peng Yan; Haotian Ma; Wenrong Tian; Jincen Liu; Xinyue Yan; Lei Ma; Shuguang Wei; Jie Zhu; Yongsheng Zhu; Jianghua Lai

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1283276

Methadone maintenance treatment is more effective than compulsory detoxification in addressing gut microbiota dysbiosis caused by heroin abuse

Front Microbiol. 2023 Oct 20:14:1283276. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1283276. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Peng Yan^#^{1

2}, Haotian Ma^#^{1

2}, Wenrong Tian^{1

2}, Jincen Liu^{1

2}, Xinyue Yan^{1

2}, Lei Ma^{1

2}, Shuguang Wei^{1

2}, Jie Zhu^{1

2}, Yongsheng Zhu^{1

2}, Jianghua Lai^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ NHC Key Laboratory of Forensic Science, College of Forensic Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
² National Biosafety Evidence Foundation, Bio-evidence Sciences Academy, Western China Science and Technology Innovation Harbor, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Heroin use disorder (HUD) is commonly accompanied by gut dysbiosis, but the roles of gut microbiota in HUD treatment, such as compulsory detoxification and methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), remain poorly understood.

Methods: In this study, we performed 16 s rDNA and whole metagenome sequencing to analyze the gut microbial profiles of HUD patients undergoing heroin addiction, heroin withdrawal (compulsory detoxification), and MMT.

Results: Our findings revealed that, compared to healthy controls, microbial diversity was significantly decreased in HUD patients who were in a state of heroin addiction and withdrawal, but not in those receiving MMT. We observed significant alterations in 10 bacterial phyla and 20 bacterial families in HUD patients, while MMT partially restored these changes. Whole metagenome sequencing indicated gut microbiota functions were significantly disrupted in HUD patients experiencing heroin addiction and withdrawal, but MMT was found to almost reverse these dysfunctions. In addition, we identified 24 featured bacteria at the genus level that could be used to effectively distinguish between healthy individuals and those with heroin addiction, heroin withdrawal, or receiving MMT. Furthermore, we found the relative abundance of Actinomyces, Turicibacter and Weissella were positively associated with the Hamilton Depression Scale score in different states of HUD patients.

Discussion: This study provides evidence from the gut microbiota perspective that MMT is a more effective approach than compulsory detoxification for HUD treatment.

Keywords: Actinomyces; Turicibacter; Weissella; compulsory detoxification; depression; gut microbiota; heroin use disorder; methadone maintenance treatment.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 82001999, 82072125 and 82171880), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2020M673422).