Supervisors info:
Μαρία Τσολιά, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ, Επιβλέπουσα
Αρτεμισία Τσίτσικα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Λωρέττα Θωμαϊδου, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
INTRODUCTION:
Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood. The gut microbiome – the sum of bacteria which colonise in the gut tumb- is being formed within the first years of life. Once established, the microbiome’s composition remains stable, but it may be altered by the impact of environmental factors such as diet, lifestyle, medicines, diseases etc. Hence, the relationship between the intestine and the Central Nervous System (gut-brain axis) is well formed. Several neurologic and neurodevelopmental diseases have been linked with changes of the gut microbiota.
Method:
A search that was conducted through the databases of Pubmed and Google Scholar, resulted in 1197 publications. After the removal of 12 duplicates, search was conducted at 1085 publications. From that sample, an audit took place, where the acceptance criteria in the current systemic review were fulfilled by 11 publications, 10 of those were case- control studies relating to microbiota of children, teenagers and young adults with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder and healthy controls. One study was referring to appearance of ADHD and changes of the gut microbiota in children to which prebiotics treatment had been granted in comparison with children to which placebo had been granted.
Results:
The selected studies did not concluded in results relating to a- and b- diversity of microbiome and resulted differentiations in phylum, order and species levels, without being concluding for the Gram positive bacteria. In family level, a reduction of Lachnospiraceae was noticed in patients’ microbiome with ADHD. In addition, it was noticed that Gram positive genuses Eggerthella and Bifidobacterium were increased in patients suffering ADHD. On the contrary, Faecalibacterium genus was detected in reduced levels in patients with ADHD.
Conclusion:
Following the search of the studies mentioned above in this systematic review, evidence can be given with regards to the relationship between the human gut microbiome and ADHD. A further investigation will result in accurate conclusions regarding their relationship.
