Rapid Assessment of Microbiota Changes in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Bacteria-derived Membrane Vesicles in Urine

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have altered gut microbiota, which appears to regulate ASD symptoms via gut microbiota-brain interactions. Rapid assessment of gut microbiota profiles in ASD individuals in varying physiological contexts is important to understanding the role of the microbiota in regulating ASD symptoms. Microbiomes secrete extracellular membrane vesicles (EVs) to communicate with host cells and secreted EVs are widely distributed throughout the body including the blood and urine. In the present study, we investigated whether bacteria-derived EVs in urine are useful for the metagenome analysis of microbiota in ASD individuals. To address this, bacterial DNA was isolated from bacteria-derived EVs in the urine of ASD individuals. Subsequent metagenome analysis indicated markedly altered microbiota profiles at the levels of the phylum, class, order, family, and genus in ASD individuals relative to control subjects. Microbiota identified from urine EVs included gut microbiota reported in previous studies and their up- and down-regulation in ASD individuals were partially consistent with microbiota profiles previously assessed from ASD fecal samples. However, overall microbiota profiles identified in the present study represented a distinctive microbiota landscape for ASD. Particularly, the occupancy of g_Pseudomonas, g_Sphingomonas, g_Agrobacterium, g_Achromobacter, and g_Roseateles decreased in ASD, whereas g_Streptococcus, g_Akkermansia, g_Rhodococcus, and g_Halomonas increased. These results demonstrate distinctively altered gut microbiota profiles in ASD, and validate the utilization of urine EVs for the rapid assessment of microbiota in ASD.

Influence of Wuling Capsules Combined with Calcitriol on Urine Marker Proteins in Early Diabetic Ne-phropathy / 中国药师

Objective:To observe the effect of Wuling capsules combined with calcitriol on urine marker proteins in early diabetic nephropathy ( DN) . Methods: Totally 64 patients with early DN were randomly divided into the control group and the observation group with 32 cases in each. The two groups were with appropriate diet and exercise, relatively stable protein intake and optimal hypo-glycemic program. The observation group was additionally treated with Wuling capsules (0. 9 g, po tid) and calcitriol 0. 25 μg,po qd, with the treatment course of eight weeks. The levels of FBG and 2hBG, HbA1c, hs-CRP, urinary protein, ALB, β2-MG and RBP were observed in the two groups before and after the treatment. Results:After the treatment, FBG, 2hBG, HbA1c, hs-CRP, total pro-tein, Alb and RBP in the two groups were improved when compared with those before the treatment, and the difference had statistical significance(P<0. 05). The total protein, ALB,β2-MG, RBP and hs-CRP in the observation group were better than those in the con-trol group after the treatment, and the difference was statistically significance (P<0. 05). Conclusion: Wuling capsules combined with calcitriol can effectively reduce glomerular and renal tubular damage in early DN patients.