Differences in intestinal microbiota in Parkinson's disease and isolated REM sleep behavior disorder.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown differences in the microbiota of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) compared to healthy controls (HC). To deduce a possible causality, it is highly relevant to examine changes in the prodromal phase. This study investigated the microbiome in stool samples of individuals with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD, n = 32) compared to clinical PD (n = 23) and HC (n = 34) and showed significant changes of beta-diversity in PD and iRBD patients compared to HC (p = 0.025; p = 0.003), with an increase in proinflammatory species in iRBD and PD and decrease in SCFA-producing bacteria in PD.