Altered gut microbiota richness in individuals with a history of lateral ankle sprain

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to examine differences in the intestinal microbiota diversity in individuals with and without a history of a lateral ankle sprain (LAS). Fifty male college student athletes with (n=32) and without (n=18) a LAS history participated in this study. Faecal samples were collected in the morning after awakening during an off-season, and faecal microbiota were characterized via bacteria 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Alpha-diversity metrics and ß-diversity indices were calculated to assess the gut microbiota diversity. The LAS-history group significantly had lower Chao1 (p=0.020) and abundance-based coverage estimators (p=0.035) indices compared to the control group. Gut microbiota composition was not significantly different between athletes with a LAS history and controls (R² =0.01, p 0.414). Athletes with a history of LASs had significantly higher proportions of Bacteroides Fragilis (p=0.024) and Ruminococcus Gnavus (p=0.021) compared with controls. The gut microbiota of athletes with a LAS history had less richness compared to controls, indicating potential associations between a LAS and the gut microbiota. This study highlights the potential link of a LAS to global health. This study may help raise awareness of strategies to prevent long-term health-related negative consequences in people suffering from LASs.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• ankle injury
• neuromechanical condition
• brain

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ms. Sayuri Nakahara for assistance with aspects of data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interests was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant‐in‐Aid for Young Scientists A [#17H04756].