Human gut colonisation may be initiated in utero by distinct microbial communities in the placenta and amniotic fluid
By M. Collado, S. Rautava, J. Aakko, E. Isolauri, S. Salminen. Scientific Reports, 2016
988 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Interaction with intestinal microbes in infancy has a profound impact on health and disease in later life through programming of immune and metabolic pathways. We collected maternal faeces, placenta, amniotic fluid, colostrum, meconium and infant faeces samples from 15 mother-infant pairs in an effort to rigorously investigate prenatal and neonatal microbial transfer and gut colonisation. To ensure sterile sampling, only deliveries at full term by elective caesarean section were studied. Microbiota composition and activity assessment by conventional bacterial culture, 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, quantitative PCR, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis revealed that the placenta and amniotic fluid harbour a distinct microbiota characterised by low richness, low diversity and the predominance of Proteobacteria. Shared features between the microbiota detected in the placenta and amniotic fluid and in infant meconium suggest microbial transfer at the foeto-maternal interface. At the age of 3–4 days, the infant gut microbiota composition begins to resemble that detected in colostrum. Based on these data, we propose that the stepwise microbial gut colonisation process may be initiated already prenatally by a distinct microbiota in the placenta and amniotic fluid. The link between the mother and the offspring is continued after birth by microbes present in breast milk.
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/35b8f444cf9529ec80a83554b000c94670bf5dad
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Citations in the corpus
- The gut microbiome: Relationships with disease and opportunities for therapy (2018, background): “, 2014), amniotic fluid (Collado et al., 2016), and meconium, which forms in utero (Gosalbes et al.”
- Factors affecting the composition of the gut microbiota, and its modulation (2019, background): “, 2008), this result agree with the evidence maternal microbes can be transferred to the amniotic fluid (Collado et al., 2016; Jiménez et al., 2008) and the placenta (Goldenberg, Hauth & Andrews, 2000).”
- A critical assessment of the “sterile womb” and “in utero colonization” hypotheses: implications for research on the pioneer infant microbiome (2017, background): “Recently, Collado and colleagues [10] aimed to specifically investigate microbial prenatal and neonatal transfer in an array of maternal and fetal/newborn samples from 15 full-term, healthy mother-infant pairs that submitted to elective C-section.”
- Maturation of the Infant Microbiome Community Structure and Function Across Multiple Body Sites and in Relation to Mode of Delivery (2017, unknown): “Previous studies have detected bacteria associated with the placenta and amniotic fluid of preterm and healthy, term pregnancies 37,39,53–55 while work in murine models have demonstrated maternal transmission of bacteria to the fetal gut during gestation, consistent with microbial colonization of…”
- The First Microbial Colonizers of the Human Gut: Composition, Activities, and Health Implications of the Infant Gut Microbiota (2017, background): “We are only beginning to understand this early-life interaction, which may already be initiated during gestation (206, 526), and its long-term effects on health.”
- Impact of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on the Gut Microbiota (2017, background): “Emerging evidence has shown that the acquisition of the microbiota community in infancy does not start from delivery, as long-believed, through natural parturition and subsequent breastfeeding, but rather begins in utero, demonstrated by the presence of a microbiota community in the placenta and amn”