| description |
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social and behavioural impairments. In addition to neurological symptoms, ASDs subjects frequently suffer from gastrointestinal abnormalities, thus implying a role of the gut microbiota in ASDs gastrointestinal physiology. Here we characterized the gut microbiota in a cohort of autistic individuals demonstrating the presence of an altered microbial community both at bacterial and fungal level. We observed a reduced incidence of Bacteroidetes in the ASDs group with Collinsella, Corynebacterium, Dorea, Haemophilus and Lactobacillus being the bacterial taxa characterizing the gut microbiota of the ASDs cohort. Furthermore constipation has been associated with different bacterial patterns in autistic and neurotypical subjects, with constipated autistic individuals characterized by high levels of putative pro-inflammatory bacterial taxa belonging to Escherichia/Shigella and Clostridium cluster XVIII. The finding that, besides the bacterial gut microbiota, also the gut mycobiota contribute to the intestinal dysbiosis associated with autism open the possibility for new potential interventions strategies aimed at the relief of gastrointestinal symptoms in ASDs which take into account also fungal component of the gut microbiota |