Short-chain fatty acids in patients with schizophrenia and ultra-high risk population

Huiqing Peng; Lijun Ouyang; David Li; Zongchang Li; Liu Yuan; Lejia Fan; Aijun Liao; Jinguang Li; Yisen Wei; Zihao Yang; Xiaoqian Ma; Xiaogang Chen; Ying He

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.977538

Short-chain fatty acids in patients with schizophrenia and ultra-high risk population

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Dec 12:13:977538. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.977538. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Huiqing Peng^{1

2}, Lijun Ouyang^{1

2}, David Li^{1

2}, Zongchang Li^{1

2}, Liu Yuan^{1

2}, Lejia Fan^{1

2}, Aijun Liao^{1

2}, Jinguang Li^{1

2}, Yisen Wei^{1

2}, Zihao Yang^{1

2}, Xiaoqian Ma^{1

2}, Xiaogang Chen^{1

2}, Ying He^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
² Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, China National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Institute of Mental Health, Hunan Medical Center for Mental Health, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.

Abstract

Background: Individuals who experience the prodromal phase of schizophrenia (SCZ), a common and complex psychiatric disorder, are referred to as ultra-high-risk (UHR) individuals. Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) is imperative in the microbiota-gut-brain axis and brain function. Accumulating amount of evidence shows the connections between psychiatric disorders and SCFAs. This study aims to explore the underlying roles SCFAs play in SCZ by investigating the association of alterations in SCFAs concentrations with common cognitive functions in both the SCZ and UHR populations.

Methods: The study recruited 59 SCZ patients (including 15 participants converted from the UHR group), 51 UHR participants, and 40 healthy controls (HC) within a complete follow-up of 2 years. Results of cognitive functions, which were assessed by utilizing HVLT-R and TMT, and serum concentrations of SCFAs were obtained for all participants and for UHR individuals at the time of their conversion to SCZ.

Results: Fifteen UHR participants converted to SCZ within a 2-year follow-up. Valeric acid concentration levels were lower in both the baseline of UHR individuals whom later converted to SCZ (p = 0.046) and SCZ patients (p = 0.036) than the HC group. Additionally, there were lower concentrations of caproic acid in the baseline of UHR individuals whom later transitioned to SCZ (p = 0.019) and the UHR group (p = 0.016) than the HC group. Furthermore, the caproic acid levels in the UHR group are significantly positively correlated with immediate memory (r = 0.355, p = 0.011) and negatively correlated with TMT-B (r = -0.366, p = 0.009). Significant differences in levels of acetic acid, butyric acid and isovaleric acid were absent among the three groups and in UHR individuals before and after transition to SCZ.

Conclusion: Our study suggests that alterations in concentrations of SCFAs may be associated with the pathogenesis and the cognitive impairment of schizophrenia. Further researches are warranted to explore this association. The clinical implications of our findings were discussed.

Keywords: caproic acid; schizophrenia; short-chain fatty acid; ultra-high-risk population; valeric acid.