Intestinal flora of patients untreated first-episode schizophrenia and its relationship with levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α in serum

Objective To investigate the relationship between intestinal flora and serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α) in patients with untereated first-episode schizophrenia. Methods A total of 268 patients with untreated first-episode schizophrenia in Taiyuan Psychiatric Hospital from January 2016 to January 2018 were selected as the observation group, and 110 healthy people in the same period were selected as the control group. The levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the two groups. The composition of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides and Enterococcus were compared. The relationship between the composition of intestinal flora and the levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α was analyzed by Pearson correlation. Results The levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05); the number of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria in the intestinal flora of the observation group was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The numbers of Bacteroides and Enterococcus were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). Lactobacillus/Bacteroides, Lactobacillus/Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium/Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium/Enterococcus in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Lactobacilli/Bacteroides, Lactobacilli/Enterococcus, Bifidobacteria/Bacteroides, Bifidobacteria/Enterococcus were negatively correlated with the levels of IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α (r<0, P<0.05). Conclusions The levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α in serum of patients with first-episode schizophrenia were increased, and the imbalance of intestinal flora was closely related to the change of serum inflammatory factors, both of which played important roles in the development of schizophrenia. Key words: Schizophrenia; Untreated; Intestinal flora; Inflammatory factors