Impaired carbohydrate digestion and transport and mucosal dysbiosis in gastro autism

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Impaired carbohydrate digestion and transport and mucosal dysbiosis in

the intestines of children with autism and gastrointestinal

disturbances. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21949732>

BL, Hornig M, Buie T, Bauman ML, Cho Paik M, Wick I, A,

Jabado O, Hirschberg DL, Lipkin WI.

PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e24585. Epub 2011 Sep 16.

Gastrointestinal disturbances are commonly reported in children with

autism, complicate clinical management, and may contribute to behavioral

impairment. Reports of deficiencies in disaccharidase enzymatic activity

and of beneficial responses to probiotic and dietary therapies led us to

survey gene expression and the mucoepithelial microbiota in intestinal

biopsies from children with autism and gastrointestinal disease and

children with gastrointestinal disease alone. Ileal transcripts encoding

disaccharidases and hexose transporters were deficient in children with

autism, indicating impairment of the primary pathway for carbohydrate

digestion and transport in enterocytes. Deficient expression of these

enzymes and transporters was associated with expression of the

intestinal transcription factor, CDX2. Metagenomic analysis of

intestinal bacteria revealed compositional dysbiosis manifest as

decreases in Bacteroidetes, increases in the ratio of Firmicutes to

Bacteroidetes, and increases in Betaproteobacteria. Expression levels of

disaccharidases and transporters were associated with the abundance of

affected bacterial phylotypes. These results indicate a relationship

between human intestinal gene expression and bacterial community

structure and may provide insights into the pathophysiology of

gastrointestinal disturbances in children with autism.