Detection of Clostridium perfringens toxin genes in the gut microbiota of autistic children

We studied stool specimens from 33 autistic children aged 2-9 years with gastrointestinal (GI) abnormalities and 13 control children without autism and without GI symptoms. We performed quantitative comparison of all Clostridium species and Clostridium perfringens strains from the fecal microbiota by conventional, selective anaerobic culture methods. We isolated C. perfringens strains and performed PCR analysis for the main C. perfringens toxin genes, alpha, beta, beta2, epsilon, iota and C. perfringens enterotoxin gene. Our results indicate that autistic subjects with gastrointestinal disease harbor statistically significantly (p = 0.031) higher counts of C. perfringens in their gut compared to control children. Autistic subjects also harbor statistically significantly (p = 0.015) higher counts of beta2-toxin gene-producing C. perfringens in their gut compared to control children, and the incidence of beta2-toxin gene-producing C. perfringens is significantly higher in autistic subjects compared to control children (p = 0.014). Alpha toxin gene was detected in all C. perfringens strains studied. C. perfringens enterotoxin gene was detected from three autistic and one control subject. Beta, epsilon, and iota toxin genes were not detected from autistic or control subjects.