Gut Microbiota Changes and Their Relationship with Inflammation in Patients with Acute and Chronic Insomnia

Abstract

Purpose

The major purpose of this study was to detect the changes in gut microbiota composition and inflammatory cytokines production associated with acute and chronic insomnia. This study also evaluated the relationship between gut microbiota changes and increased inflammatory cytokines in insomnia patients.

Patients and Methods

Outpatients with acute and chronic insomnia (aged 26–55 years; n=20 and 38, respectively) and age/gender-matched healthy controls (n=38) were recruited from a southern China region. Participants’ gut microbiome, plasma cytokines, and self-reported sleep quality and psychopathological symptoms were measured.

Results

The gut microbiomes of insomnia patients compared with healthy controls were characterized by lower microbial richness and diversity, depletion of anaerobes, and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria, and an expansion of potential pathobionts. Lachnospira and Bacteroides were signature bacteria for distinguishing acute insomnia patients from healthy controls, while Faecalibacterium and Blautia were signature bacteria for distinguishing chronic insomnia patients from healthy controls. Acute/chronic insomnia-related signature bacteria also showed correlations with these patients’ self-reported sleep quality and plasma IL-1β.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that insomnia symptomology, gut microbiota, and inflammation may be interrelated in complex ways. Gut microbiota may serve as an important indicator for auxiliary diagnosis of insomnia and provide possible new therapeutic targets in the field of sleep disorders.

Keywords:

• acute insomnia
• chronic insomnia
• gut microbiome
• inflammatory cytokines
• random forest

Acknowledgments

The present study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31871129); Project of Key Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, MOE (grant number: 16JJD190001); Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme, GDUPS (2016).

We thank our study participants, as well as research assistants Honglei Yin, Yongzhi Zhao, Na Yan, Ting Liu, Xiaoyan Chen, Dingxuan Chen, Haiying Qi, and Yuan Lai for their assistance during the data collection. We also would like to thank Susan Lin for her help in improving the quality of the manuscript.

Disclosure

All authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.