ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1530014
Altered gut microbiota in erectile dysfunction patients: a pilot study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
- 2Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Purpose: With the growing body of research on gut microbiota in recent years, various potential associations between gut microbiota and health or disease have been identified. However, the role of gut microbiota in Erectile dysfunction (ED) remains poorly understood. This study aimed to compare the changes in gut microbiota and metabolic pathways between ED males and healthy control group, contributing to the exploration of ED pathogenesis.Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 19 ED patients and 15 healthy controls (aged from 18 to 60 years), with erectile function assessed using the 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5). Macro-genomic sequencing was performed on the NovaSeq PE 150 platform to characterize the gut microbiota distribution among the groups.Results: No significant differences in alpha diversity of the gut microbiota were observed between the ED and control groups. Additionally, Principal component analysis (PCA) analysis revealed no notable changes in microbiota composition between the two groups. A comparison of the abundance of key species showed that, in the ED group, species such as Ruminococcus gnavus, Thomasclavelia ramosa, Clostridium sp. AF32-12BH, Clostridium nexile, and Eubacterium siraeum were more abundant, while the abundance of Bacteroides intestinalis was decreased compared to the control group. Furthermore, pathways related to nucleotide and lipid metabolism were found to be highly expressed in the ED group.Conclusions: This pilot study found a decrease in the abundance of Bacteroides intestinalis and an increase in the abundance of Ruminococcus gnavus in the ED sample. These microbiota changes may contribute to ED by promoting atherosclerosis and inhibiting the degradation of branched-chain amino acids. In the future, it may be possible to achieve better outcomes for ED patients by precisely regulating the gut microbiota.
Keywords: Bacteroides intestinalis, Erectile Dysfunction, Gut Microbiota, Metabolic pathways, Macrogenomics
Received: 19 Nov 2024; Accepted: 15 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Su, Wang, Luo and Tang. 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: Qizhen Tang, Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, Liaoning Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.