Alterations of fecal microbiota and plasma metabolome in patients with Parkinson’s disease with rapid eye movement sleep disorder

There are currently fewer investigations on the intestinal microbiota and metabolites of probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (PD-RBD) and idiopathic RBD (iRBD). Our findings indicate that PD-RBD exhibits an increase in <i>Christensenellaceae</i> and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethyleneglycol sulfate, and that iRBD exhibits a similar trend. This suggests that the PD prodromal stage may have seen this alteration. Furthermore, functional analysis indicated that these distinctive microbiota and metabolites were primarily associated with phenylalanine metabolism and vitamin B6 metabolism. Basic experiments and multi-center, large-cohort clinical researches are worth conducting to confirm this, since they may offer insights for treating individuals with PD-RBD.