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Published on: November 20, 2015
Early life gut microbiome in children following spontaneous preterm birth and maternal preeclampsia
Iskander L C Shadid1,2, Kathleen Lee-Sarwar1, Zheng Lu1
1Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Insights
Adverse pregnancy complications like preeclampsia and preterm birth may alter the infant gut microbiome. Specific bacterial abundances change over time, impacting early life health.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Developmental Biology
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Background:
- The early life microbiome is crucial for child health and development.
- The impact of adverse pregnancy complications on the infant gut microbiome is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of preeclampsia (PE) and spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) on the offspring gut microbiome.
- To analyze longitudinal changes in gut microbial diversity and taxa abundance in relation to pregnancy complications.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal cohort study of mother-child pairs with a five-year follow-up.
- Evaluation of offspring gut alpha and beta diversity and taxa abundances.
- Consideration of factors like breastfeeding and mode of delivery.
Main Results:
- Microbiome diversity development showed similar trends in offspring from complicated and normal pregnancies.
- Distinctive abundances of specific bacterial taxa (at genus level) were observed over time in relation to PE or sPTB.
- Enrichment and depletion patterns of certain taxa were identified.
Conclusions:
- Adverse pregnancy complications like PE and sPTB may induce specific alterations in the offspring's gut microbiome during early life.
- These microbiome changes warrant further investigation for their implications on immediate and long-term offspring health.
Abstract:
The early life microbiome plays an important role in developmental and long-term health outcomes. However, it is unknown whether adverse pregnancy complications affect the offspring's gut microbiome postnatally and in early years. In a longitudinal cohort with a five-year follow-up of mother-child pairs affected by preeclampsia (PE) or spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB), we evaluated offspring gut alpha and beta diversity as well as taxa abundances considering factors like breastfeeding and mode of delivery. Our study highlights a trend where microbiome diversity exhibits comparable development across adverse and normal pregnancies. However, specific taxa at genus level emerge with distinctive abundances, showing enrichment and/or depletion over time in relation to PE or sPTB. These findings underscore the potential for certain adverse pregnancy complications to induce alterations in the offspring's microbiome over the course of early life. The implications of these findings on the immediate and long-term health of offspring should be investigated in future studies.
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