Effect of Intrapartum Antibiotics Prophylaxis on the Bifidobacterial Establishment within the Neonatal Gut.

Silvia Saturio,Gonzalo Solís,Leonardo Mancabelli,Silvia Arboleya,Laura Mantecón,Marta Suárez,Marco Ventura,Nuria Fernández,Miguel Gueimonde,Clara G De Los Reyes-Gavilán

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9091867

Abstract

Antibiotics are important disruptors of the intestinal microbiota establishment, linked to immune and metabolic alterations. The intrapartum antibiotics prophylaxis (IAP) is a common clinical practice that is present in more than 30% of labours, and is known to negatively affect the gut microbiota composition. However, little is known about how it affects to Bifidobacterium (sub)species level, which is one of the most important intestinal microbial genera early in life. This study presents qualitative and quantitative analyses of the bifidobacterial (sub)species populations in faecal samples, collected at 2, 10, 30 and 90 days of life, from 43 healthy full-term babies, sixteen of them delivered after IAP use. This study uses both 16S rRNA–23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequencing and q-PCR techniques for the analyses of the relative proportions and absolute levels, respectively, of the bifidobacterial populations. Our results show that the bifidobacterial populations establishment is affected by the IAP at both quantitative and qualitative levels. This practice can promote higher bifidobacterial diversity and several changes at a compositional level. This study underlines specific targets for developing gut microbiota-based products for favouring a proper bifidobacterial microbiota development when IAP is required.

Highlights

Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, due to their powerful ability to battle infections.Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, numerous antibiotics have been described [1].Among them, beta-lactams are the most-commonly administered compounds and make up 65% of the antibiotic market [2]
To assess the differences in gut bifidobacterial relative abundance and levels related to the use of intrapartum antibiotics, and to avoid bias derived from delivery mode, an ANCOVA test with delivery mode as covariable was conducted
Our results demonstrated that intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) impacts the bifidobacterial community during the first months of life

Summary

Introduction

Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, due to their powerful ability to battle infections.Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, numerous antibiotics have been described [1].Among them, beta-lactams are the most-commonly administered compounds and make up 65% of the antibiotic market [2]. Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, due to their powerful ability to battle infections. Antibiotics are extensively used for prophylactic purposes, and they are by far the most common prescription drugs given in the perinatal and neonatal environment, being present in more than 30% of labours [3,4,5]. In this context, the administration of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) is commonly used for the prevention of early-onset Group-B-streptococci (GBS) infection, in pre-labour rupture of membranes or C-section deliveries to avoid surgical infections [3,6]. The use of antibiotics presents disadvantages, such as promoting antimicrobial resistance, adverse drug events or alterations of the gut microbiota [7,8,9]

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