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Updated: Aug 29, 2025
A Neonatal Imaging Model of Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsis
Published on: August 12, 2020
Neonatal microbiota-epithelial interactions that impact infection
Shikha Negi1, Seika Hashimoto-Hill1, Theresa Alenghat1
1Division of Immunobiology and Center for Inflammation and Tolerance, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
Insights
Neonatal enteric infections remain a global threat. Early life gut microbiota and immune development are critical, and interventions targeting these could prevent severe infections in newborns.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Neonatal Health
Background:
- Enteric infections are a leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity worldwide, persisting despite medical advancements.
- The neonatal period is a critical window for gut microbiota colonization and immune system development, highly sensitive to environmental and host factors.
- Early-life disruptions to the gut microbiota increase newborn susceptibility to enteric infections and systemic spread.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent findings on neonatal microbiota-epithelial interactions.
- To understand how these interactions influence susceptibility to intestinal infections in newborns.
- To explore potential microbiota-directed interventions for neonatal enteric infections.
Main Methods:
- Review of current scientific literature on neonatal gut microbiota, immune development, and enteric infections.
- Analysis of studies investigating host-pathogen interactions in the neonatal gut.
- Synthesis of research on microbiota-epithelial signaling pathways in neonates.
Main Results:
- Early-life gut microbiota composition significantly impacts neonatal immune responses and infection susceptibility.
- Microbiota-epithelial interactions play a crucial role in regulating intestinal defense against pathogens in newborns.
- Alterations in gut microbiota are linked to impaired immune function and increased infection risk.
Conclusions:
- Understanding neonatal microbiota-epithelial interactions is key to preventing enteric infections.
- Targeting the gut microbiota offers a promising strategy for developing novel prophylactic and therapeutic interventions for neonates.
- Boosting epithelial defense through microbiota-directed approaches could reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity from enteric infections.
Abstract:
Despite modern therapeutic developments and prophylactic use of antibiotics during birth or in the first few months of life, enteric infections continue to be a major cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity globally. The neonatal period is characterized by initial intestinal colonization with microbiota and concurrent immune system development. It is also a sensitive window during which perturbations to the environment or host can significantly impact colonization by commensal microbes. Extensive research has demonstrated that these early life alterations to the microbiota can lead to enhanced susceptibility to enteric infections and increased systemic dissemination in newborns. Various contributing factors continue to pose challenges in prevention and control of neonatal enteric infections. These include alterations in the gut microbiota composition, impaired immune response, and effects of maternal factors. In addition, there remains limited understanding for how commensal microbes impact host-pathogen interactions in newborns. In this review, we discuss the recent recognition of initial microbiota-epithelial interactions that occur in neonates and can regulate susceptibility to intestinal infection. These studies suggest the development of neonatal prophylactic or therapeutic regimens that include boosting epithelial defense through microbiota-directed interventions.
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