ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Intestinal Microbiome
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1606417
Retrospective review: Single- and multidonor washed microbiota transplantation have equivalent efficacy in the treatment of autism
Provisionally accepted
Ya-Mei Zheng1Meng-Meng Ye1Hong-Ying Zhang1Dan-Ping Luo1Tao Liu1
Xing-Xiang He1Xian-Yun Chen2*
Li-Hao Wu1*- 1Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Yuebei People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
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BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder with no effective treatment. This study explored the short-term clinical effects of washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) with different numbers of donors on autism.MethodsConsecutive ASD patients treated with two continuous WMT courses from March 2020 to March 2022 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University were retrospectively assessed. Basic information, aberrant behaviour checklist (ABC) scores, childhood autism rating scale (CARS) scores, sleep disturbance scale for children (SDSC) scores, adverse reactions, and faeces were collected.ResultsForty-four patients were included (single-donor group: 17 patients; multidonor group: 27 patients). The CARS, ABC and SDSC scores didn't differ between the two groups before treatment. After two courses, the scores for the 44 patients were lower than those at baseline (P<0.05), with no severe adverse reactions observed. After the first course, the mean ABC (P=0.049) and SDSC (P=0.019) scores were significantly different between the single-donor and multidonor groups, but the difference disappeared after two courses. The alpha-diversity of the faecal flora in the effective-group was greater than that in the ineffective-group (Shannon index P=0.0018). Lactobacillus was the predominant genus in the effective group, whereas Faecalibacterium, Campylobacter, and Sphingomonas were predominant genera in the ineffective group.ConclusionAfter two WMT courses, the symptoms of ASD improved, with good short-term treatment efficacy. The ASD symptom improvement did not differ between the single-donor and multidonor groups. Changes in the alpha-diversity and abundance of the faecal microbiota after WMT may be related to treatment efficacy.
Keywords: washed microbiota transplantation, autism, Short-term efficacy, Faecal flora, Single donor, multidonor
Received: 05 Apr 2025; Accepted: 17 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, Ye, Zhang, Luo, Liu, He, Chen and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xian-Yun Chen, Yuebei People's Hospital, Shaoguan, 512025, China
Li-Hao Wu, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
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