Autism patients benefit from fecal transplants

January 24, 2017

Fecal transplants could increase the bacterial diversity in autistic patients
Children with autism are often lacking in important bacteria in their gut
Introducing healthy microbes into the gut helps to rebalance it
Doctors and parents reported that behavioral symptoms in patients, such as irritability, improved for at least eight weeks

Mary Kekatos For Dailymail.com

Published:
13:50 EST, 23 January 2017

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Updated:
14:39 EST, 23 January 2017

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Fecal transplants could treat behavioral symptoms in autism patients, a new study has claimed.

Scientists have discovered that children with autism are lacking in bacterial diversity in their gut – and fecal transplants could help rebalance it.

Introducing healthy microbes into the gut to adjust the lack of diversity is a method generally used for people with gastrointestinal disease.

Behavioral symptoms of autism and gastrointestinal distress, such as irritability and hyperactivity, often go hand-in-hand, according to the researchers.

As many as nine out of 10 autistic individuals also suffer from problems such as inflammatory bowel disease and ‘leaky gut’.

Fecal transplants could help treat behavioral symptoms in autistic children, such as irritability, by introducing healthy microbes which rebalances gut bacteria

Fecal transplants involve transferring feces from a healthy donor containing roughly 1,000 different species of bacteria that act as probiotics.

The study, conducted at the University of Arizona, looked at 18 children between ages seven and 16 with autism, and moderate to severe gastrointestinal problems.

The researchers used a method called microbiota transfer therapy, which started with the children receiving antibiotics for two weeks to wipe out much of their existing gut flora.

Doctors then gave them an initial high-dose fecal transplant in liquid form. In the seven to eight weeks that followed, the children drank smoothies blended with a lower-dose powder.

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Both parents and doctors said they saw positive changes that lasted for at least eight weeks.

Doctors reported that behavioral symptoms, such as irritability, hyperactivity, and communication issues, decreased by 22 percent at the end of treatment and 24 percent eight weeks afterwards.

Parents of the children with autism not only reported a decrease in gut problems, including diarrhea and stomach pain, but also that they saw significant changes for the better when it came to their children’s behavioral symptoms.

WHAT IS A FECAL TRANSPLANT?

Fecal transplantation is the transfer of stool from a healthy donor into the gastrointestinal tract of a patient.

It is most commonly used to treat recurring C. difficile infection – spread by bacterial spores found within feces.

It can also be used to treat gastrointestinal infections such as colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation.

Antibiotics often kill off too many ‘good’ bacteria in the digestive tract. Fecal transplants can help replenish bacterial balance.

The stool contains roughly 1,000 different species of bacteria that act as probiotics.

The transfer is completed via:

Enema (fluid injected into the lower bowel through the rectum)
Orogastric tube (a tube inserted through the mouth, past the the throat, and down into the stomach)
A pill containing freeze-dried material

Researchers also were able to document how the gut was rebalanced by studying children without autism for comparison of bacterial and viral gut composition.

At the end of the study, the bacterial diversity in the children with autism was indistinguishable from their healthy peers. Additionally, the viral diversity of the treated children rebounded quickly, and became more similar to the donor’s microbiome.

Lead author Ann Gregory, a microbiology graduate student at The Ohio State University, said: ‘Transplants are working for people with other gastrointestinal problems.

‘And, with autism, gastrointestinal symptoms are often severe, so we thought this could be potentially valuable.’

There currently exists no approved pharmaceutical treatment for autism.

Dr James Adams, one of the study’s lead authors and an Arizona State University professor who specializes in autism, called the results compelling, but cautioned that larger, more rigorous studies confirming benefits must be done before the approach could be used widely.

Co-author Dr Matthew Sullivan said the team originally planned to study the use of probiotics in autism, but shifted gears when fecal transplantation began to show benefits for those with other conditions.

The researchers want to conduct a larger clinical trial as well as uncover the precise types of bacteria and viruses that make a difference.

Dr Sullivan say these types of discoveries could lead to lab-engineered treatments tailored to specific diseases.

He said: ‘We have to be mindful of the placebo effect and we have to take it with a grain of salt. But it does give us hope.’

The research team cautioned that families should not try to replicate the experimental treatment on their own, as it could harm children if done improperly.