title: Fecal microbiota composition and frailty.
abstract: The relationship between fecal microbiota composition and frailty in the elderly was studied. Fecal samples from volunteers with high frailty scores showed a significant reduction in the number of lactobacilli (26-fold). At much higher population levels, both the Bacteroides/Prevotella (threefold) and the Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (fourfold) groups showed a significant reduction in percentage of total number of hybridizable bacteria in the elderly with high frailty scores. In contrast to this, the number of Enterobacteriaceae was significantly higher (sevenfold) in samples from very frail volunteers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sandra P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: van Tongeren
authors.forename: Joris P J
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Slaets
authors.forename: H J M
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Harmsen
authors.forename: Gjalt W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Welling
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018720:Prevotella / Q000302:isolation & purification