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An Intestinal Gut Organ Culture System for Analyzing Host-Microbiota Interactions
05:27

An Intestinal Gut Organ Culture System for Analyzing Host-Microbiota Interactions

Published on: June 30, 2021

Influence of mother's intestinal microbiota on gut colonization in the infant

Minna-Maija Grönlund1, Łukasz Grześkowiak, Erika Isolauri

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Turku University Hospital Kiinamyllynkatu 4-8, 20520 Turku, Finland. mingro@utu.fi

Gut Microbes
|October 11, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Maternal gut bacteria significantly influence infant colonization, especially Bifidobacterium bifidum. Probiotic interventions showed minimal impact on this mother-infant microbial association.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Human Microbiome
  • Infant Health

Background:

  • The early life gut microbiome is crucial for infant development.
  • Understanding mother-to-infant microbial transmission is key.
  • Probiotics are explored for modulating infant gut microbiota.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mother-infant gut colonization association.
  • To determine if probiotics influence this maternal-infant microbial transfer.
  • To analyze Bifidobacterium species transmission and diversity.

Main Methods:

  • Real-time PCR analysis of fecal samples from 80 mother-infant pairs at 1 and 6 months.
  • Mothers received probiotic combinations pre- and post-delivery in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.
  • Assessment of bacterial numbers, colonization frequencies, diversity indexes (DI), and similarity indexes (SI).

Main Results:

  • Maternal Bifidobacterium bifidum colonization strongly predicted infant B. bifidum colonization and bifidobacterial diversity.
  • Significant correlations in Bifidobacterium genus and B. longum counts were observed between mothers and infants.
  • Probiotic intervention at 6 months showed effects on bifidobacterial counts association, but not on colonization frequencies, DI, or SI.

Conclusions:

  • A distinct mother-infant association exists in gut bifidobacterial colonization.
  • Maternal B. bifidum colonization is a primary driver of infant bifidobacterial microbiota development.
  • Maternal probiotic supplementation had a limited effect on the established mother-infant gut microbial association.

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