Skip to main content
. 2005 Oct;71(10):6438–6442. doi: 10.1128/AEM.71.10.6438-6442.2005

TABLE 1.

Fecal microbiota composition of elderly volunteers with low and high frailty scores as determined by DAPI staining (total cells) and hybridization with bacterial probes

Bacterial group or parameter Stain or probe Reference Low-frailty group (n = 13)
High-frailty group (n = 10)
Median no. of cells/g of fecesa
Median % microbiota
Median no. of cells/g of fecesa
Median % microbiota
Dry wt Wet wt DAPI Eub338 Dry wt Wet wt DAPI Eub338
Total cells DAPI 2.0 × 1011 5.3 × 1010 100 2.0 × 1011 6.6 × 1010 100
Total bacteria Eub338 2 1.3 × 1011 3.5 × 1010 53.9 100 1.1 × 1011 3.4 × 1010 54.2 100
Bacteroides/Prevotella group Bac303 22 2.7 × 1010 7.7 × 109 11.0 24.2* 8.7 × 109 2.9 × 109 4.5 9.4*
E. rectale/C. coccoides group Erec482 6 1.6 × 1010 5.1 × 109 10.6 19.7 1.3 × 1010 4.1 × 109 6.7 13.2
Ruminococcus group Rfla729/Rbro730 12 1.9 × 1010 4.5 × 109 6.3 15.2 2.9 × 1010 7.9 × 109 12.7 23.8
Atopobium group Ato291 11 5.3 × 109 1.3 × 109 2.1 3.4 9.0 × 109 2.4 × 109 4.3 10.6
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii group Fprau645 32 2.2 × 109 6.1 × 108 1.2 3.1* 4.6 × 108 1.6 × 108 0.3 0.7*
Eubacterium cylindroides group Ecyl387 12 1.5 × 109 4.9 × 108 0.9 1.4 1.6 × 109 4.2 × 108 0.8 0.9
Bifidobacterium Bif164 21 2.0 × 109 4.6 × 108 0.9 1.3 4.6 × 108 1.4 × 108 0.2 0.5
Streptococcus group Strc493 6 1.1 × 109 3.8 × 108 0.7 1.1 8.7 × 108 2.8 × 108 0.4 0.8
Lactobacillus/Enterococcus group Lab158 9 3.1 × 108* 9.8 × 107** 0.1* 0.3** 2.5 × 107* 7.1 × 106** 0.03* 0.04**
Clostridium group Chis150/Clit135 6 2.4 × 108 5.4 × 107 0.1 0.2 1.8 × 107 5.8 × 106 0.01 0.02
Enterobacteriaceae Ecoli153123S 24 6.6 × 107* 2.1 × 107* 0.05* 0.1 4.7 × 108* 1.4 × 108* 0.3* 0.6
Veillonella Veil223 12 9.2 × 106 2.7 × 106 0.005 0.01 1.6 × 107 4.9 × 106 0.01 0.01
Phascolarctobacterium group Phasco741 12 4.3 × 105 1.0 × 105 0.0002 0.001 4.1 × 106 1.3 × 106 0.002 0.004
Sum of specific probes 34.0 69.9 30.3 60.6
Lachnospira group Lach571 12 2.0 × 108 4.5 × 107 0.1 0.2 1.5 × 107 4.0 × 106 0.01 0.01
Eubacterium hallii group Ehal1469 12 1.3 × 108 3.3 × 107 0.1 0.1 9.9 × 107 2.7 × 107 0.1 0.1
Enterococcus faecium/Enterococcus faecalis Enfm2/Enfl3 b 3.6 × 105 1.0 × 105 0.0002 0.001 1.8 × 106 5.0 × 105 0.001 0.002
a

The data were analyzed assuming that when no bacteria of the target group were detected, the bacterial number was 1.0 × 105 per gram, wet weight. *, statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05, two-sided); **, statistically significant (P ≤ 0.01, two-sided).

b

K. Waar, personal communication.