Abstract
BackgroundMicrobial deprivation early in life can potentially influence immune mediated disease development such as allergy. The aims of this study were to investigate the influence of parental allergy on the infant gut colonization and associations between infant gut microbiota and allergic disease at five years of age.Methods and FindingsFecal samples were collected from 58 infants, with allergic or non-allergic parents respectively, at one and two weeks as well as at one, two and twelve months of life. DNA was extracted from the fecal samples and Real time PCR, using species-specific primers, was used for detection of Bifidobacterium (B.) adolescentis, B. breve, B. bifidum, Clostridium (C.) difficile, a group of Lactobacilli (Lactobacillus (L.) casei, L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus) as well as Staphylococcus (S.) aureus. Infants with non-allergic parents were more frequently colonized by Lactobacilli compared to infants with allergic parents (p = 0.014). However, non-allergic five-year olds acquired Lactobacilli more frequently during their first weeks of life, than their allergic counterparts, irrespectively of parental allergy (p = 0.009, p = 0.028). Further the non-allergic children were colonized with Lactobacilli on more occasions during the first two months of life (p = 0.038). Also, significantly more non-allergic children were colonized with B. bifidum at one week of age than the children allergic at five years (p = 0.048).ConclusionIn this study we show that heredity for allergy has an impact on the gut microbiota in infants but also that early Lactobacilli (L. casei, L. paracasei, L. rhamnosus) colonization seems to decrease the risk for allergy at five years of age despite allergic heredity.
Highlights
During and after birth, the neonate is exposed to an array of microbes, which immediately start to colonize the skin and mucosal surfaces of the infant
The relative amounts of B. bifidum were significantly higher in infants with non-allergic parents at one week of age (p = 0.044), but neither the frequencies (Table 2) nor the amounts of the other species investigated, differed with parental allergic status
C. difficile was only detected in two infants during the first two months of life whereas half of all children were colonized at twelve months of age (Table 2)
Summary
The neonate is exposed to an array of microbes, which immediately start to colonize the skin and mucosal surfaces of the infant. Animal studies show that the gut microbiota composition is associated with immune development, maturation and function [8,10] and in humans associations between the early-life gut microbiota and mucosal and systemic immunity during the first year of life have been reported [11,12,13]. Microbial deprivation early in life can potentially influence immune mediated disease development such as allergy. The aims of this study were to investigate the influence of parental allergy on the infant gut colonization and associations between infant gut microbiota and allergic disease at five years of age
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