ArticleInvestigative ophthalmology & visual science2025
Fecal Microbial Profiles and Short-Chain Fatty Acid/Bile Acid Metabolomics in Patients With Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Pilot Study.
Article in Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Short-Chain Fatty Acids: Microbial Metabolites Driving Gut-Eye Axis Signaling.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- An Update and Overview of the Ocular and Extraocular Microbiome and Its Impact on Ophthalmic Care.Advances in therapy · 2026Review
- Integrative Network Pharmacology Analysis of Gut Microbial Metabolite-Mediated Gut-Eye Axis Regulation in Major Blinding Retinal Diseases.Ophthalmology science · 2026Article
- The Gut-Eye Axis and Microbiome in Ophthalmic Diseases: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- A Potential Gut-Retina Axis in Retinopathy of Prematurity: Emerging Perspectives on Microbiome-Mediated Modulation of the IGF-1-VEGF Pathway.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The gut-retina axis in age-related macular degeneration: immune crosstalk and metabolite production.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2026Review
- The therapeutic potential of gypenosides for age-related macular degeneration.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Expression of thrombomodulin in pterygium: implications for inflammation and disease progression.Molecular biology reports · 2025Article
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19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Purpose: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a multifactorial disease, and studies have implicated the role of gut microbiota in its pathogenesis. However, characterization of microbiome dysbiosis and associated microbial-derived metabolomic profiles across AMD stages remains unknown. In this pilot study, we explored how gut microbiome composition and gut-derived metabolites differ in AMD. Methods: Our pilot study analyzed fasted stool samples that were collected from 22 patients at a tertiary academic center. Subjects were classified as control, intermediate AMD, or advanced AMD based on clinical presentation. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and standard chromatography-mass spectrometry methods were used to identify bacterial taxonomy composition and abundance of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bile acids (BAs), respectively. Genetic testing was used to investigate the frequency of 14 high-risk single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with AMD in the AMD cohort. Results: Forty-three differentially abundant genera were present among the control, intermediate, and advanced groups. Taxa with known roles in immunologic pathways, such as Desulfovibrionales (q = 0.10) and Terrisporobacter (q = 1.16e-03), were in greater abundance in advanced AMD patients compared to intermediate. Advanced AMD patients had decreased abundance of 12 SCFAs, including acetate (P = 0.002), butyrate (P = 0.04), and propionate (P = 0.01), along with 12 BAs, including taurocholic acid (P = 0.02) and tauroursodeoxycholic acid (P = 0.04). Frequencies of high-risk SNPs were not significantly different between the intermediate and advanced AMD groups. Conclusions: This pilot study identifies distinct gut microbiome compositions and metabolomic profiles associated with AMD and its stages, providing preliminary evidence of a potential link between gut microbiota and AMD pathogenesis. To validate these findings and elucidate the underlying mechanisms, future research with larger cohorts and more comprehensive sampling is strongly recommended.
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