Impact of delivery mode-associated gut microbiota dynamics on health in the first year of life

Abstract The early-life microbiome appears to be affected by mode of delivery, but this effect may depend on intrapartum antibiotic exposure. Here, we assess the effect of delivery mode on gut microbiota, independent of intrapartum antibiotics, by postponing routine antibiotic administration to mothers until after cord clamping in 74 vaginally delivered and 46 caesarean section born infants. The microbiota differs between caesarean section born and vaginally delivered infants over the first year of life, showing enrichment of Bifidobacterium spp., and reduction of Enterococcus and Klebsiella spp. in vaginally delivered infants. The microbiota composition at one week of life is associated with the number of respiratory infections over the first year. The taxa driving this association are more abundant in caesarean section born children, providing a possible link between mode of delivery and susceptibility to infectious outcomes.

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Author Correction: Impact of delivery mode-associated gut microbiota dynamics on health in the first year of life

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-019-13373-1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marta Reyman ◽

Marlies A. van Houten ◽

Debbie van Baarle ◽

Astrid A. T. M. Bosch ◽

Wing Ho Man ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

First Year ◽

Delivery Mode ◽

First Year Of Life

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

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Impact of Delivery Mode on Infant Gut Microbiota

Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism ◽

10.1159/000518498 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Katri Korpela

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Epidemiological Studies ◽

Microbial Colonization ◽

Hospital Environment ◽

Delivery Mode ◽

Normal Birth ◽

Gut Colonization ◽

Intrapartum Antibiotic ◽

First Year Of Life

Microbial colonization of the neonate is an important feature of normal birth. The gut microbiota has a central role in the programming of the host’s metabolism and immune function, with both immediate and long-term health consequences. During vaginal birth, the infant is exposed to diverse maternal microbes, of which specific faecal microbes colonize the infant’s gut. C-section eliminates the infant’s contact with maternal microbes, preventing vertical transmission of gut microbes. Consequently, infants are colonized by bacteria from the environment, including potential pathogens from the hospital environment. Recent studies have shown that intrapartum antibiotic exposure has a C-section-like effect on the infant gut microbiota. While the composition of the gut microbiota largely normalizes during the first year of life, epidemiological studies suggest that the aberrant early microbial exposures have long-term immunological and metabolic consequences. Because of the high prevalence of procedures that prevent normal gut microbiota development, effective methods to normalize the gut microbiota of neonates are urgently needed. Even more importantly, attention should be paid to the microbiota imbalance in C-section-born and antibiotic-exposed infants in clinical practice. Breastfeeding and probiotics are particularly important for infants with disrupted gut colonization.

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Strain inheritance and neonatal gut microbiota development: a meta-analysis

10.1101/2020.10.10.20210534 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Podlesny ◽

W. Florian Fricke

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Large Scale ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Bacterial Species ◽

First Year ◽

Delivery Mode ◽

Older Children ◽

Strain Transfer ◽

Comprehensive Picture ◽

First Year Of Life

ABSTRACTAs many inflammatory and metabolic disorders have been associated with structural deficits of the human gut microbiota, the principles and mechanisms that govern its initialization and development are of considerable scientific interest and clinical relevance. However, our current understanding of the developing gut microbiota dynamics remains incomplete. We carried out a large-scale, comprehensive meta-analysis of over 1900 available metagenomic shotgun samples from neonates, infants, adolescents, and their families, using our recently introduced SameStr program for strain-level microbiota profiling and the detection of microbial strain transfer and persistence. We found robust associations between gut microbiota composition and age, as well as delivery mode which was measurable for up to two years of life. C-section was associated with increased relative abundances of non-gut species and delayed transition from a predominantly oxygen-tolerant to intolerant microbial community. Unsupervised networks based on shared strain profiles generated family-specific clusters connecting infants, their siblings, parents and grandparents and, in one case, suggested strain transfer between neonates from the same hospital ward, but could also be used to identify potentially mislabeled metagenome samples. Following birth, larger quantities of strains were shared between vaginally born infants and their mothers compared to C-section infants, which further persisted throughout the first year of life and belonged to the same bacterial species as strains that were shared between adults and their parents. Irrespective of delivery type, older children shared strains with their mothers and fathers and, into adulthood, could be accurately distinguished from unrelated sample pairs. Prominent gut commensal bacteria were both among frequently transferred (e.g. Bacteroides and Sutterella) and newly acquired taxa (e.g. Blautia, Faecalibacterium, and Ruminococcus). Our meta-analysis presents a more detailed and comprehensive picture of the highly dynamic neonatal and infant gut microbiota development than previous studies and presents evidence for taxonomic and functional compositional differences early in life between infants born naturally or by C-section, which persist well into adolescence.

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Microbiota development in early life mediates association between mode of delivery and vaccine responses

10.1101/2021.09.01.21262898 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emma M. de Koff ◽

Debbie van Baarle ◽

Marlies A. van Houten ◽

Marta Reyman ◽

Guy A.M. Berbers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Early Life ◽

Mode Of Delivery ◽

Microbial Community Composition ◽

First Year ◽

Vaccine Responses ◽

Childhood Vaccines ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Immune Maturation ◽

Conjugate Vaccination

The gut microbiota in early life, when critical immune maturation takes place, may influence the immunogenicity of childhood vaccinations. We assessed the association between mode of delivery, gut microbiota development in the first year of life, and mucosal antigen-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses against pneumococcal and meningococcal conjugate vaccination at ages 12 and 18 months, respectively, in a prospective birth cohort of 120 infants. Birth by natural delivery was associated with higher IgG responses against both vaccines, which for the anti-pneumococcal IgG response could be explained by a gut microbial community composition with high abundances of Bifidobacterium and Escherichia coli in the first weeks of life. High E. coli abundance in the same period was also associated with higher anti-meningococcal IgG responses. Our results suggest that associations between mode of delivery and antibody responses to routine childhood vaccines are mediated by gut microbiota development.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Impact of delivery mode-associated gut microbiota dynamics on health in the first year of life.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.736841750.793574637 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lindsay Hall

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

First Year ◽

Delivery Mode ◽

First Year Of Life

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INFLUENCE OF DELIVERY MODE ON GUT MICROBIOTA DEVELOPMENT IN BREASTFED TERM INFANTS DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE

Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health ◽

10.1111/jpc.14410_4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (S1) ◽

pp. 57-57

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

First Year ◽

Delivery Mode ◽

Term Infants ◽

First Year Of Life

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Role of cesarean section in the development of neonatal gut microbiota: A systematic review

Open Medicine ◽

10.1515/med-2021-0270 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 624-639

Author(s):

Negin Shaterian ◽

Fatemeh Abdi ◽

Nooshin Ghavidel ◽

Farzane Alidost

Keyword(s):

Cesarean Section ◽

Gut Microbiota ◽

Growth And Development ◽

Human Life ◽

First Year ◽

Delivery Mode ◽

Gut Colonization ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Colonization Rates

Abstract Background The delivery mode is one of the factors affecting the type of colonization of the human gut. Gut colonization affects all stages of the human life cycle, and the type of gut microbiome can contribute to immune system function, the development of some diseases, and brain development; and it has a significant impact on a newborn’s growth and development. Methods Terms defined as MeSH keywords were searched by the databases, and web search engines such as PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, Embase, Scopus, ProQuest, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched between 2010 and 2020. The quality of each study was assessed according to the Newcastle–Ottawa scale, and seven eligible and high-quality studies were analyzed. Finding The abundances of Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium during the first 3 months of life; Lactobacillus and Bacteroides during the second 3 months of life; Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium during the second 6 months of life; and Bacteroides, Enterobacter, and Streptococcus after the first year of life were higher in vaginal delivery-born infants. While infants born by cesarean section (CS) had higher abundances of Clostridium and Lactobacillus during the first 3 months of life, Enterococcus and Clostridium during the second 3 months of life, and Lactobacillus and Staphylococcus after the first year of life. Discussion Delivery mode can affect the type of the human intestinal microbiota. The CS-born babies had lower colonization rates of Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides, but they had higher colonization rates of Clostridium, Lactobacillus, Enterobacter, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcus. Given the effect of microbiota colonization on neonatal health, it is therefore recommended to conduct further studies in order to investigate the effect of the colonization on the delivery mode and on baby’s growth and development. Application to practice The aim of this study was to investigate the role of CS in the development of the neonatal gut microbiota.

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Levels of Predominant Intestinal Microorganisms in 1 Month-Old Full-Term Babies and Weight Gain During the First Year of Life

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13072412 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 2412

Author(s):

Sonia González ◽

Marta Selma-Royo ◽

Silvia Arboleya ◽

Cecilia Martínez-Costa ◽

Gonzalo Solís ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Weight Gain ◽

Gut Microbiota ◽

Early Life ◽

Later Life ◽

Full Term ◽

First Year ◽

Term Infants ◽

Term Newborns ◽

Infant Weight Gain ◽

First Year Of Life

The early life gut microbiota has been reported to be involved in neonatal weight gain and later infant growth. Therefore, this early microbiota may constitute a target for the promotion of healthy neonatal growth and development with potential consequences for later life. Unfortunately, we are still far from understanding the association between neonatal microbiota and weight gain and growth. In this context, we evaluated the relationship between early microbiota and weight in a cohort of full-term infants. The absolute levels of specific fecal microorganisms were determined in 88 vaginally delivered and 36 C-section-delivered full-term newborns at 1 month of age and their growth up to 12 months of age. We observed statistically significant associations between the levels of some early life gut microbes and infant weight gain during the first year of life. Classifying the infants into tertiles according to their Staphylococcus levels at 1 month of age allowed us to observe a significantly lower weight at 12 months of life in the C-section-delivered infants from the highest tertile. Univariate and multivariate models pointed out associations between the levels of some fecal microorganisms at 1 month of age and weight gain at 6 and 12 months. Interestingly, these associations were different in vaginally and C-section-delivered babies. A significant direct association between Staphylococcus and weight gain at 1 month of life was observed in vaginally delivered babies, whereas in C-section-delivered infants, lower Bacteroides levels at 1 month were associated with higher later weight gain (at 6 and 12 months). Our results indicate an association between the gut microbiota and weight gain in early life and highlight potential microbial predictors for later weight gain.

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Hospital Maternal Care Is Disruptive

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.57.2.294a ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 294-295

Author(s):

Justin D. Call

Keyword(s):

Breast Milk ◽

Breast Feeding ◽

Maternal Care ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Mammalian Species ◽

Smooth Transition ◽

First Year ◽

First Year Of Life

"Breast-Feeding: Second Thoughts" by Gerrard,1 sets forth epidemiologic and immunological data on human and other mammalian species showing that colostrum and breast milk actively protect the infant from enterocolitis and respiratory infections when breast-feeding is begun immediately after birth and continued through at least most of the first year of life. Gerrard hypothesizes that breast-feeding provides a smooth transition for the baby from being entirely dependent on the mother for nutritional and immunological requirements to being completely independent from her.

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