BACKGROUND: Enterotype analysis classifies individuals based on gut microbial community composition using clustering techniques. Despite evidence suggesting the important role of enterotype in affecting brain function and working memory, little is known about the brain structural substrates.
METHODS: We collected fecal samples and utilized 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to identify three enterotypes (Bacteroides, Prevotella, and Ruminococcaceae) among 511 healthy young adults through unsupervised clustering. Structural and diffusion MRI techniques were adopted to assess gray matter morphology and white matter integrity. Inter-enterotype differences in brain structure were tested, followed by correlation and mediation analyses to investigate the potential relationships among enterotype, brain structure, and working memory.
RESULTS: The three enterotypes exhibited significant differences in cortical thickness of the prefrontal cortex and mean diffusivity of the cerebral peduncle and cingulum. Moreover, prefrontal cortical thickness was correlated with working memory and further acted as a significant mediator of the association between enterotype and working memory.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings may contribute to the growing literature on the microbiota-brain-cognition relationship, setting the stage for future longitudinal and interventional research.
