Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Microbiome / 26.08.2015
Microbiome Differs Between Schizophrenic Patients and Controls
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Keith A. Crandall, PhD
Director - Computational Biology Institute
George Washington University
Innovation Hall Suite 305
Ashburn, VA 20147-2766
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Crandall: We wanted to investigate whether or not there were significant differences in the microbiome (microbial composition) of patients with schizophrenia versus controls. The other researchers have demonstrated a connection between microbiome diversity and brain development and behavior modulation associated with a variety of disorders. Our initial study focuses on the oropharyngeal as a target for the microbiome characterization, but we have additional work relating to other microbiomes (e.g., gut) for which we are still in the process of analyzing the data. Collected microbiome data from 16 individuals with schizophrenia and 16 controls (matched as best we could and corrected statistically for differences between the populations), we showed differences in the microbiome taxonomic diversity and functional diversity. Specifically, we identified a significant increase in the number of metabolic pathways related to metabolite transport systems; whereas, carbohydrate and lipid pathways and energy metabolism were abundant in controls.
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