Analysis of the state of the obligate normal intestinal microflora in elderly patients taking statins

Azovskova Olga Vasilyevna, Fedosov Evgeny Alekseevich, Kondratieva Anastasia Gennadievna, Bezborodova Daria Sergeevna, Komisarenko Oksana Dmitrievna

Objective. Study of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the intestinal microflora of elderly and old people taking Аtorvastatin for a long time. Materials and methods. The study included 2 groups of elderly people with cardiovascular diseases, taking and not taking the drug "Atorvastatin". To study the quantitative and qualitative composition of the microflora of feces obtained from patients, a bacteriological diagnostic method was used. The cultivation of microorganisms and their identification were carried out in accordance with the standard protocol and using the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry method (Microflex-LT, Biotyper System, Bruker Daltonics, Germany). The effect of the drug "Atorvastatin" on isolated clinical strains of E. coli bacteria and a control reference strain of E. coli was determined according to GOST R ISO 20776-1-2010. Results 20 patients aged 67-82 years were examined. During the bacteriological study, dysbiosis phenomena were detected in 80% of cases in elderly patients (bacteria of the Bacteroides group prevailed and the number of Lactobacillus group bacteria was reduced). In the group of patients taking statin, in addition to the detected violations, there was a decrease in the number of E. coli (60% of cases) or its replacement with another conditionally pathogenic microflora (50% of cases). In 70% of cases, the examined persons taking Atorvastatin had a complete absence of lactobacilli in the feces. The study showed that the drug Atorvastatin can change the biological properties of E. coli in both clinical and reference strains. Conclusions. Physiological aging is associated with changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of the intestinal microflora. With prolonged use of atorvastatin, these disorders are aggravated, but the significance of the changes in the composition of the microflora requires extensive comprehensive studies.

Keywords:obligate normal microflora, microbiota, metabolome, statins, elderly and senile patients