Plasma Levels of Endocannabinoids and Their Analogues Are Related to Specific Fecal Bacterial Genera in Young Adults: Role in Gut Barrier Integrity Ortiz Álvarez, Lourdes Xu, Huiwen Osuna Prieto, Francisco Javier Acosta, Francisco M. Plaza Díaz, Julio Gil Hernández, Ángel Ruiz Ruiz, Jonatan Martínez Téllez, Borja Manuel Endocannabinoid system Gut barrier Gastrointestinal microbiome Inflammation Short-chain fatty acids The study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393) and PTA 12264-I, Retos de la Sociedad (DEP2016-79512-R), and European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), by the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU16/05159, FPU16/02828 and FPU17/01523), the Fundacion Iberoamericana de Nutricion (FINUT), the Redes Tematicas De Investigacion Cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD16/0022), the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC, No. 201707060012 to XD), InFLAMES Flagship Programme of the Academy of Finland (decision number: 337530), Fundacion Alfonso Martin Escudero and Maria Zambrano fellowship by the Ministerio de Universidades y la Union Europea-NextGenerationEU (RR_C_2021_04). AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES), and by the Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad (ref. P18-RT-4455). AL and RVV are supported by the funds of European Commission through the "European funds for regional development" (EFRE) as well as by the regional Ministry of Economy, Science and Digitalization of Saxony-Anhalt as part of the "Autonomy in old Age" (AiA) research group for "LiLife" Project (Project ID: ZS/2018/11/95324). M.C-P was recipient of a postdoctoral grant (DOC_00448) from the Consejeria de Economia, Industria, Conocimiento Universidades (PAIDI 2020, Junta de Andalucia), Spain, cofunded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). We would like to thank the team of Data Integration Center of University Medicine Magdeburg for local data-analysis solutions; they are supported by MIRACUM and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the "Medical Informatics Funding Scheme" (FKZ 01ZZ1801H). Objective: To investigate the association of plasma levels of endocannabinoids with fecal microbiota. Methods: Plasma levels of endocannabinoids, anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), as well as their eleven analogues, and arachidonic acid (AA), were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in 92 young adults. DNA extracted from stool samples was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Lipopolysaccharide levels were measured in plasma samples. Results: Plasma levels of endocannabinoids and their analogues were not related to beta or alpha diversity indexes. Plasma levels of AEA and related N-acylethanolamines correlated positively with the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium genus (all rho >= 0.26, p <= 0.012) and Akkermansia genus (all rho >= 0.22, p <= 0.036), and negatively with the relative abundance of Bilophila genus (all rho <= -0.23, p <= 0.031). Moreover, plasma levels of 2-AG and other acylglycerols correlated positively with the relative abundance of Parasutterella (all rho >= 0.24, p <= 0.020) and Odoribacter genera (all rho >= 0.27, p <= 0.011), and negatively with the relative abundance of Prevotella genus (all rho <= -0.24, p <= 0.023). In participants with high lipopolysaccharide values, the plasma levels of AEA and related N-acylethanolamines, as well as AA and 2-AG, were negatively correlated with plasma levels of lipopolysaccharide (all rho <= -0.24, p <= 0.020). Conclusion: Plasma levels of endocannabinoids and their analogues are correlated to specific fecal bacterial genera involved in maintaining gut barrier integrity in young adults. This suggests that plasma levels of endocannabinoids and their analogues may play a role in the gut barrier integrity in young adults. 2022-06-15T07:32:24Z 2022-06-15T07:32:24Z 2022-05-20 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Ortiz-Alvarez, L... [et al.]. Plasma Levels of Endocannabinoids and Their Analogues Are Related to Specific Fecal Bacterial Genera in Young Adults: Role in Gut Barrier Integrity. Nutrients 2022, 14, 2143. [https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14102143] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/75495 10.3390/nu14102143 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI