Brain Behav Immun. 2017 Dec 23. pii: S0889-1591(17)30553-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2017.12.012. [Epub ahead of print]

Correlation between gut microbiota and personality in adults: a cross-sectional study.

Kim HN1, Yun Y1, Ryu S2, Chang Y2, Kwon MJ3, Cho J4, Shin H5, Kim HL6.

1 Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

2Center for Cohort Studies, Total Healthcare Center, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Occupational Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

3Center for Cohort Studies, Total Healthcare Center, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

4Center for Cohort Studies, Total Healthcare Center, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Health Sciences and Technology, SAHIST, Sungkyunkwan University, 06351 Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Health, Behavior and Society and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

5Center for Cohort Studies, Total Healthcare Center, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Family Medicine and Health Screening Center, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

6Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hyung@ewha.ac.kr.

Abstract

Personality affects fundamental behavior patterns and has been related with health outcomes and mental disorders. Recent evidence has emerged supporting a relationship between the microbiota and behavior, referred to as brain-gut relationships. Here, we first report correlations between personality traits and gut microbiota. This research was performed using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and the sequencing data of the 16S rRNA gene in 672 adults.

The diversity and the composition of the human gut microbiota exhibited significant difference when stratified by personality traits. We found that personality traits were significantly correlated with diversity of gut microbiota, while their differences were extremely subtle.

High neuroticism and low conscientiousness groups were correlated with high abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and Proteobacteria, respectively when covariates, including age, sex, BMI and nutrient intake, were controlled.

Additionally, high conscientiousness group also showed increased abundance of some universal butyrate-producing bacteria including Lachnospiraceae. This study was of observational and cross-sectional design and our findings must be further validated through metagenomic or metatranscriptomic methodologies, or metabolomics-based analyses.

Our findings will contribute to elucidating potential links between the gut microbiota and personality, and provide useful insights toward developing and testing personality- and microbiota-based interventions for promoting health.

KEYWORDS:

Brain gut axis; Conscientiousness; Gut microbiota; Neuroticism; Personality

PMID:

29278751