Associations of Gut Microbiota Composition and Fecal Metabolomic Profiles in Patients With Acquired Premature Ejaculation: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study.

Abstract

Premature ejaculation (PE) is a prevalent male sexual disorder with an incompletely understood pathogenesis and limited effective therapeutic strategies. Although the gut microbiota has been implicated in several diseases, its association with PE remains unclear. Metabolomic analyses and metagenomic sequencing were performed to compare the intestinal microbiota profiles between 20 patients with PE and 20 healthy controls, investigating the association between PE and gut microbiota. Comprehensive analysis revealed distinct microbial signatures between PE and control groups. The PE group exhibited significantly reduced relative abundances of Bifidobacteriaceae bacterium, Blautia, Coprobacillus, Ruminococcus sp. ctHOG1, Siphoviridae, and Alistipes. Metabolomic profiling identified 150 upregulated and 73 downregulated metabolites between the two groups. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway enrichment analysis indicated significant enrichment of several potential signaling pathways in the PE group. This study characterized distinct gut microbiota features in patients with PE compared with healthy controls and investigated microbiota-associated pathways potentially related to PE through integrated metabolomics analysis. The findings provide preliminary insights into microbiome-associated alterations in PE.