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 |
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).
K. Waar, personal communication.