The study, utilizing the relatively new field of metagenomics, demonstrated an imbalance in the gut microbiome of patients with Parkinson’s disease.
New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham says the gut microbiome is involved in multiple pathways in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. The findings, published in Nature Communications, show a wide imbalance in microbiome composition in persons with Parkinson’s disease. The study is the largest microbiome study conducted at the highest resolution.
The investigators employed metagenomics, the study of genetic material recovered directly from the stool microbiome of persons with PD and neurologically healthy control subjects.
“The primary aim of this study was to generate a full, unaltered view of the imbalance in PD gut microbiome,” said Haydeh Payami, Ph.D., professor in the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Department of Neurology and senior author on the study.
