Background and Aims:
The gut microbiota contributes to the breakdown of dietary costituents and produces an array of bioactive metabolic products,which may affect human behavior and brain regulation. The assessment of fecal metabolites through a metabolomic approach may help to obtain an overall picture of metabolic changes associated with human diseases and to identify possible biomarkers.

Metabolomic signature of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) has not been deeply investigated, although changes in metabolomics are likely occurring because of the deranged eating behavior.

Methods:
In this study we analyzed the fecal metabolomic profile of23 women with AN, before (T0) and after short-term weight recovery (T1), compared it with that of 20 healthy controls.

Results:
Nine metabolites (cadaverine, cycloserine, N-acetyl ethylenediamine, steric acid, coprostanol, propionic acid, linoleic acid, lactic acid, methyl ketobuthyric acid)were higher in AN patients at T0 compared to T1 and healthy controls; 4 metabolites (fucose, xylose, rhamnose, arabinose)were lower in AN women at T0 compared to T1 and to controls.

Conclusions:
These findings suggest that a specifc metabolomic signature is present in acute pahse of AN. The extent to which these metabolomic changes represent possible biomarkers of AN remains to be determined.

03 - METABOLOMIC SIGNATURE OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA