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Updated: Mar 8, 2026

A Murine Pancreatic Islet Cell-based Screening for Diabetogenic Environmental Chemicals
Published on: June 25, 2018
Early life antibiotic exposure affects pancreatic islet development and metabolic regulation
Jiaying Li1, Kaiyuan Yang1, Tingting Ju1
1Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2P5, Canada.
Insights
Early life antibiotic exposure in piglets programs later-life glucose metabolism and pancreatic development. This research highlights potential long-term health risks associated with childhood antibiotic use.
Area of Science:
- Metabolic disease research
- Microbiome and host-pathogen interactions
- Pediatric health and development
Background:
- Childhood antibiotic exposure is linked to increased metabolic disease risk.
- Understanding this association is crucial for addressing the chronic disease epidemic.
- Rodent models have limitations in mimicking human infant development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the mechanisms linking early antibiotic exposure to metabolic dysfunction.
- To investigate the long-term effects of antibiotics on glucose metabolism and pancreatic development.
- To utilize a swine model that better represents human infants.
Main Methods:
- Administered antibiotics during early life in a swine model.
- Assessed glucose metabolism five weeks after antibiotic withdrawal.
- Analyzed gut microbiota, microbial metabolites, and gene expression in the pancreas.
Main Results:
- Early antibiotic exposure altered glucose metabolism and pancreatic development.
- Antibiotics caused transient changes in gut microbiota and metabolite production.
- Long-term alterations in gene expression related to short-chain fatty acid signaling and pancreatic development were observed.
Conclusions:
- Early life antibiotic exposure can have a programming effect on metabolic health.
- These findings suggest a need for further investigation into the long-term consequences of childhood antibiotic use.
- The swine model provides valuable insights into human infant responses.
Abstract:
Childhood antibiotic exposure has been recently linked with increased risk of metabolic disease later in life. A better understanding of this association would potentially provide strategies to reduce the childhood chronic disease epidemic. Therefore, we explored the underlying mechanisms using a swine model that better mimics human infants than rodents, and demonstrated that early life antibiotic exposure affects glucose metabolism 5 weeks after antibiotic withdrawal, which was associated with changes in pancreatic development. Antibiotics exerted a transient impact on postnatal gut microbiota colonization and microbial metabolite production, yet changes in the expression of key genes involved in short-chain fatty acid signaling and pancreatic development were detected in later life. These findings suggest a programming effect of early life antibiotic exposure that merits further investigation.
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