Intestinal Dysbiosis and Lowered Serum Lipopolysaccharide-Binding Protein in Parkinson’s Disease

The intestine is one of the first affected organs in Parkinson's disease (PD). PD subjects show abnormal staining for Escherichia coli and α-synuclein in the colon.

We recruited 52 PD patients and 36 healthy cohabitants. We measured serum markers and quantified the numbers of 19 fecal bacterial groups/genera/species by quantitative RT-PCR of 16S or 23S rRNA. Although the six most predominant bacterial groups/genera/species covered on average 71.3% of total intestinal bacteria, our analysis was not comprehensive compared to metagenome analysis or 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing.