{
  "abstract": "Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by emotional detachment, impulsivity, and antisocial tendencies. Despite a clinical prevalence of 1%, the biological underpinnings of psychopathy remain poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests a role for the microbiota-brain axis in personality and behavior, yet its relevance to psychopathy remains unexplored. This study investigated the relationship between gut and oral microbiota composition and psychopathic traits, while assessing metabolomic signatures that may contribute to microbiota-brain interactions. A cohort of 200 participants completed the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale Short Form, alongside measures of empathy (Affective and Cognitive Empathy Questionnaire; Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and anxiety (State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety). Microbiota composition was analyzed in fecal and oral samples, and targeted and untargeted metabolomics was performed in plasma and fecal samples. Distinct psychopathy-related profiles were identified via K-means clustering in an untargeted approach and exploratory analyses were done to assess associations with psychopathy scores. While gut and oral alpha and beta-diversity did not differ between psychopathy clusters, beta-diversity analyses revealed significant associations with psychopathy scores. Gut taxa Allisonella, Prevotella, Ruminococcaceae DTU089 and Cloacibacillus evryensis, as well as oral taxa Treponema vincentii exhibited differences in relative abundance between clusters. Allisonella, Prevotella, and C. evryensis showed significant positive associations with psychopathy scores, while T. vincentii was negatively associated. Fecal glucose and taurine levels differed between clusters, with both metabolites showing positive associations with psychopathy scores. These findings provide novel evidence linking gut and oral microbiota composition to subclinical psychopathic traits, highlighting potential pathways for understanding the biological basis of psychopathy.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "NanoBiomaterials for Targeted Therapies, INEB – Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Biomédica, i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom",
    "Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "Departamento de Biomedicina, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom",
    "Instituto de Saúde Pública (ISPUP), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional (ITR), Porto, Portugal",
    "Departamento de Biomedicina, Unidade de Farmacologia e Terapêutica e Centro de Investigação Farmacológica e de Inovação Medicamentosa (MedInUP), Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "Laboratório de Neuropsicofisiologia, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal",
    "Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom",
    "Faculdade de Medicina Dentária da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 14,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Carolina F. F. A. Costa",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9831-9420"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Radford-Smith"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Alexandre R. T. Figueiredo",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2776-2665"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Rita C. M. Ribeiro"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Sofia Pinto",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1433-703X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Fay Probert"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Renata Barros"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Paula Serrão"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Luisa Barreiros",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3481-5809"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Marcela A. Segundo",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2938-0214"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Daniel C. Anthony",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1380-6655"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Fernando Barbosa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Philip W. J. Burnet",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6374-8054"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        13
      ],
      "name": "Benedita Sampaio-Maia",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9368-8075"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2cd9gzm10v6rs.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41398-026-04052-z",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13737288/",
  "id": "2cd9gzm10v6rs",
  "issns": [
    "2158-3188"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04052-z",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Gut microbiota and health"
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  ],
  "openalex": "W7201844837",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-026-04052-z_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13737288",
  "pmid": "42982796",
  "published": "2026-08-07",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2cd9gzm10v6rs.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-09T12:22:31Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13737288",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04052-z"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Gut microbiota and health",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Gut and oral microbiota composition is associated with psychopathic personality: a cross-sectional study",
  "title_text": "Gut and oral microbiota composition is associated with psychopathic personality: a cross-sectional study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T12:22:31Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2cd9gzm10v6rs",
  "venue": "Translational Psychiatry",
  "versions": []
}