ArticleBMJ open2021
Markers of gastrointestinal permeability and dysbiosis in premenopausal women with PCOS: a case-control study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of high-protein vs conventional protein enteral nutrition on intestinal permeability, severity of disease, and mortality in critically ill intensive care unit Patients: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2026Article
- The Skeletal Muscle as an Endocrine Firewall: Mitigating Metabolic Endotoxemia and Insulin Resistance in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Ketogenic diet combined with probiotics for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome: research progress from the perspective of the gut microbiota-host metabolic axis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Bipolar and major depressive disorders: associations with serum zonulin levels and rs2070937 polymorphism.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Positive Outcomes of Supplementation with Lecithin-Based Delivery Formulation ofLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Quinoa ameliorates polycystic ovary syndrome via regulating gut microbiota through PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and autophagy.Nutrition & metabolism · 2024Article
- Meteorin-like Protein and Zonulin in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Exploring Associations with Obesity, Metabolic Parameters, and Inflammation.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Gut microbiota, immunity, and bile acid metabolism: decoding metabolic disease interactions.Life metabolism · 2023Review
- A narrative review of the role of gastrointestinal dysbiosis in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome.Obstetrics & gynecology science · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAltered intestinal permeability and gut barrier dysfunction have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenetic mechanism of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine and metabolic condition in reproductive-aged women. However, data on intestinal permeability and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota in PCOS is still limited, with conflicting results. To this end, the concentrations of gastrointestinal permeability and gut dysbiosis markers were analysed in women with PCOS.
designCase-control study.
settingGeneral community.
participants104 women with PCOS and 203 body mass index (BMI) matched control women at age 46. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum levels of zonulin, fatty acid-binding protein 2 (FABP2), urinary levels of indican, and hormonal and metabolic parameters.
resultsSerum levels of zonulin (128.0±17.0 vs 130.9±14.0 ng/mL, p=0.13) and FABP2 (1.5±0.9 vs 1.5±0.7 ng/mL, p=0.63) and urinary levels of indican (9.5±5.5 vs 8.4±4.2 mg/dL, p=0.07) were comparable in women with PCOS and controls in the whole study population. Likewise, when the study population was divided into different BMI groups as normal weight, overweight and obese, the levels of the above markers were comparable between the study groups. After BMI adjustment, zonulin levels correlated with the levels of high-sensitivity C reactive protein and homoeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (p<0.05) both in women with PCOS and controls.
conclusionsIntestinal permeability markers zonulin and FABP2, and the dysbiosis marker indican do not seem to be altered in women with PCOS at age 46 compared with BMI-matched controls. Serum zonulin levels correlated with BMI, insulin resistance and inflammatory marker levels, but did not segregate women with PCOS and controls. This suggests that metabolic factors, but not PCOS per se, is the driving force of dysbiosis in premenopausal women with PCOS.
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