title: Reduced diversity and imbalance of fecal microbiota in patients with ulcerative colitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinical observations and experimental colitis models have indicated the importance of intestinal bacteria in the etiology of ulcerative colitis (UC), but a causative bacterial agent has not been identified.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine how intestinal bacteria are associated with UC, fecal microbiota and other components were compared for UC patients and healthy adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fresh feces were collected from 48 UC patients. Fecal microbiota were analyzed by use of terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), real-time PCR, and culture. The concentrations of organic acids, indole, and ammonia, and pH and moisture, which are indicators of the intestinal environment, were measured and compared with healthy control data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  T-RFLP data divided the UC patients into four clusters; one cluster was obtained for healthy subjects. The diversity of fecal microbiota was significantly lower in UC patients. There were significantly fewer Bacteroides and Clostridium subcluster XIVab, and the amount of Enterococcus was higher in UC patients than in healthy subjects. The fecal concentration of organic acids was significantly lower in UC patients who were in remission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  UC patients have imbalances in the intestinal environment-less diversity of fecal microbiota, lower levels of major anaerobic bacteria (Bacteroides and Clostridium subcluster XIVab), and a lower concentration of organic acids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Parasitology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan. nemoto@genmaikoso.co.jp
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Kazue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikata
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arimochi
authors.forename: Teruaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Yoshinari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuwahara
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yasutomo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial