Oral Microbiota Changes in Elderly Patients, an Indicator of Alzheimer’s Disease

Yi-Fan Wu, Wei-Fang Lee, Eisner Salamanca, Wan-Ling Yao, Jo-Ning Su, Sin-Yu Wang, Chaur-Jong Hu and Wei-Jen Chang
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Yi-Fan Wu: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Wei-Fang Lee: School of Dental Technology, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Eisner Salamanca: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Wan-Ling Yao: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Jo-Ning Su: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Sin-Yu Wang: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Chaur-Jong Hu: Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Wei-Jen Chang: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually affects older individuals. Owing to the higher incidence of root caries and missing teeth in elderly individuals, the bacteria involved in these dental concerns might potentially deteriorate their cognitive function. Altered microbiota in the oral cavity may induce neuroinflammation through migration from the oral cavity to the brain. However, the correlation between the composition of the oral microbiota and neurodegenerative disease remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated sequence to determine the relative abundance and diversity of bacterial taxa in the dental plaque of elderly patients with AD and controls. Oral samples; the DMFT index; and other clinical examination data were collected from 17 patients with AD and 18 normal elderly individuals as the control group. Patients with AD had significantly more missing teeth and higher dental plaque weight but lower microbial diversity than controls. Significantly increased numbers of Lactobacillales , Streptococcaceae , and Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes and a significantly decreased number of Fusobacterium were observed in patients with AD. In conclusion, using the PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing platform to survey the microbiota dysbiosis biomarkers in the oral cavity of elderly individuals could serve as a tool to identify patients with AD.

Keywords: oral microbiota; Alzheimer’s disease; plaque/plaque biofilms; oral health; dental hygiene; neuroscience/neurobiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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