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"Does the Gut microbiome influence disc health and disease? -the interplay between dysbiosis, pathobionts, and disc inflammation: A Pilot Study".

S. Rajasekaran, G. Vasudevan, Chitraa Tangavel, Karthik Ramachandran, Sharon Miracle Nayagam, R. Muthurajan, C. Gopalakrishnan, S. Anand et al.

The spine journal, 2024

40 participants · 22 citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Gut microbiome alterations resulting in inflammatory responses have been implicated in many distant effects on different organs. However, its influence on disc health is still not fully investigated.

PURPOSE

Our objective was to document the gut biome in healthy volunteers and patients with disc degeneration and to understand the role of gut dysbiosis on human disc health.

STUDY DESIGN

Experimental case-control study PATIENT SAMPLE: We included 40 patients with disc degeneration (DG) and 20 healthy volunteers (HV). HV comprised of age groups 30 to 60 years with no known record of back pain and no clinical comorbidities, with normal MRI. Diseased group (DG) were patients in the same age group undergoing surgery for disc disease (disc herniation - 25; discogenic stenosis - 15) and without instability (with Modic-20; and non-Modic 20).

OUTCOME MEASURES

N/A METHODS: We analysed 16S V3-V4 rDNA gut metagenome from 20 healthy volunteers (HV) and compared the top signature genera from 40 patients with disc degeneration (DG) across modic and non-modic groups. Norgen Stool DNA Kit was used for DNA extraction from ∼200 mg of each faecal sample collected using the Norgen Stool Collection Kit.16S V3-V4 rDNA amplicons were generated with universal bacterial primers 341F and 806R and amplified with Q5 High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase. Libraries were sequenced with 250×2 PE to an average of 0.1 million raw reads per sample (Illumina Novaseq 6000). Demultiplexed raw data was…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case-control, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 40 participants or records.

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