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Microbiomes of human throat may be linked to schizophrenia

natasa778

Senior Member
Messages
1,774
In the most comprehensive study to date, researchers have identified a potential link between microbes (viruses, bacteria and fungi) in the throat and schizophrenia....

"The oropharynx of schizophrenics seems to harbor different proportions of oral bacteria than healthy individuals," said Eduardo Castro-Nallar, a Ph.D. candidate at GW's Computational Biology Institute (CBI) and lead author of the study. "Specifically, our analyses revealed an association between microbes such as lactic-acid bacteria and schizophrenics."

Recent studies have shown that microbiomes -- the communities of microbes living within our bodies -- can affect the immune system and may be connected to mental health. Research linking immune disorders and schizophrenia has also been published, and this study furthers the possibility that shifts in oral communities are associated with schizophrenia.
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
More on schizophrenia here. EFAs useful:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150811/ncomms8934/full/ncomms8934.html
Here we show that brief intervention with omega-3 PUFAs reduced both the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and psychiatric morbidity in general in this study. The majority of the individuals from the omega-3 group did not show severe functional impairment and no longer experienced attenuated psychotic symptoms at follow-up.
 

natasa778

Senior Member
Messages
1,774
This is also super interesting, may be relevant for some ME folks with these symptoms?


Amino Acid Offers Hope of Relieving Milder Symptoms Of Schizophrenia


AMONG the most intractable symptoms of schizophrenia are those that are the most subtle, including social withdrawal, emotional flatness and apathy, which do not respond to most existing medications. But new studies are finding that very large doses of a form of glycine, a common amino acid, may offer relief from these "negative" symptoms....

Glycine, which appears to have only minor side effects, could one day offer an alternative to other medications that help with negative symptoms but have risky, potentially fatal, side effects.

But before such a glycine remedy for schizophrenia is possible, a synthetic form will have to be devised, one that penetrates the brain more effectively than does glycine in its natural form, researchers say.

In the study, 14 patients who had been hospitalized for schizophrenia on and off for 5 to 10 years were given very high doses of glycine. Those who took the glycine showed a marked improvement in negative symptoms, while a comparison group taking a placebo showed no improvement. The patients were evaluated by psychiatrists who did not know who was taking the glycine.

"We used extremely ill, chronic, deteriorated patients," said Dr. Stephen R. Zukin, a psychiatrist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, and a co-author of the study. "Most had schizophrenia for 15 to 20 years."

Withdrawal and Apathy
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
"Specifically, our analyses revealed an association between microbes such as lactic-acid bacteria and schizophrenics."

From http://textbookofbacteriology.net/lactics.html -

They ferment glucose primarily to lactic acid, or to lactic acid, CO2 and ethanol.

So there is more lactate and ethanol being produced close to the brain. This opens up additional lines of investigation if its validated.

It also makes me wonder if there might be a link via lactic acid between ME and schizophrenia. We can have too much lactate, though much of the evidence so far is that it is made by our own body. However its not established that we might have too much ethanol, and that would be a gut thing if it happens.
 

A.B.

Senior Member
Messages
3,780
The link to the actual study is here: https://peerj.com/articles/1140/

I also have a question for the experts: what does this paragraph mean in plain English?

Functionally, the microbiome of schizophrenia patients was characterized by an increased number of metabolic pathways related to metabolite transport systems including siderophores, glutamate, and vitamin B12. In contrast, carbohydrate and lipid pathways and energy metabolism were abundant in controls. These findings suggest that the oropharyngeal microbiome in individuals with schizophrenia is significantly different compared to controls, and that particular microbial species and metabolic pathways differentiate both groups.
 

natasa778

Senior Member
Messages
1,774
However its not established that we might have too much ethanol, and that would be a gut thing if it happens.

Not established as in no one looked yet, or some did but couldn't find much?

Probably a long shot but one thing that springs to mind here is that many ME patients do not/cannot drink alcohol
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Not established as in no one looked yet, or some did but couldn't find much?

Probably a long shot but one thing that springs to mind here is that many ME patients do not/cannot drink alcohol
The alcohol hypothesis was kind of indirectly popular in the 90s, but I forget most of it. Screening for blood alcohol is very common as well. However if the issue is rather low levels of alcohol, over many years, rather than what we see from drinking it, then the cumulative effect would be very hard to pick up with even a moderate sized cohort. The size of the cohort may have to be massive, and nobody has done that.

I think this would be more about location of the alcohol than total quantity. What is it doing to the vasculature, nervous system, and immune system? Local concentrations might be too high, but averaged out over the body, and detoxed by the liver, you might find almost nothing or completely nothing.