[Research] Tongue swabs could be a diagnostic tool for epilepsy

[Bernard]

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Methods: By characterizing oral microbiota in patients diagnosed with epilepsy (EPs) and patients whose seizures were under control (EPRs), we sought to discover biomarkers for different disease states. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on 480 tongue swabs [157 EPs, 22 EPRs, and 301 healthy controls (HCs)].

Results: Compared with normal individuals, patients with epilepsy exhibit increased alpha diversity in their oral microbiota, and the oral microbial communities of the two groups demonstrate significant beta diversity differences. EPs exhibit a significant increase in the abundance of 26 genera, including Streptococcus, Granulicatella, and Kluyvera, while the abundance of 14 genera, including Peptostreptococcus, Neisseria, and Schaalia, is significantly reduced. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of oral microbial markers in the training cohort and validation cohort was 98.85% and 97.23%, respectively. Importantly, the AUC of the biomarker set achieved 92.44% of additional independent validation sets. In addition, EPRs also have their own unique oral community.

Conclusion: This study describes the characterization of the oral microbiome in EP and EPR and demonstrates the potential of the specific microbiome as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for epilepsy.
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Oral microbiome alterations in epilepsy and after seizure control - PubMed

This study describes the characterization of the oral microbiome in EP and EPR and demonstrates the potential of the specific microbiome as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for epilepsy.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I found this one interesting. They tested tongue swabs (rubbing a Q-tip over the tongue) and found that the bacteria in the mouths of epilepsy patients had statistically significant (measurable) differences from folks without epilepsy. While they were testing as a means to validate tongue swabs as a potential diagnostic tool, I have to wonder how much the microbiome (bacteria) in the mouth is correlated/associated with the gut brain and if this might open up new avenues for research on treatments for the gut flora based upon tongue swabs. I wonder if @Keith is still around and has any insight on this.