Gut microbiota of healthy newborns: new diagnostic technologies — new outlook on the development process

T.V Priputnevich,V.V Zubkov,S.M Yudin,M.K Mesyan,A.B Gordeev,L.A Timofeeva,J Shubina,V.V Makarov,E.L Isaeva,V.V Muravieva

doi:10.24075/brsmu.2019.063

Abstract

Currently, there are no criteria allowing to adequately assess composition and volume of the newborns' gut microbiota, which prevents early detection of the pathological processes and appropriate intervention. This study aimed to apply the methods of culturomics, proteomics and molecular genetic technologies to investigate the development of gut microbiota in healthy newborns delivered in the city of Moscow both vaginally and through a cesarean section. We examined 66 children, 33 of them delivered vaginally and 33 by cesarean section. The luminal bacterial flora samples were collected on the 1st, 7th and 30th days of life. There were 136 species of microorganisms belonging to 40 genera identified. We established that cesarean section slows down normal development of the gut microflora: through the follow-up period (1 month of life), gut microbiocenosis in such children did not yield the results on par with those registered in children born vaginally. Bifidobacteria were significantly more common in the vaginal delivery group: 84% of 109–1012 CFU/g versus 33% of 105–1012 CFU/g in the cesarean section group. At the same time, the former group had significantly less clostridia (33.3% and 65.4%, respectively) and lactose-negative Escherichia coli strains (2.4 and 19.4%, respectively) than the latter group.

Highlights

There are no criteria allowing to adequately assess composition and volume of the newborns' gut microbiota, which prevents early detection of the pathological processes and appropriate intervention
This study aimed to apply the methods of culturomics, proteomics and molecular genetic technologies to investigate the development of gut microbiota in healthy newborns delivered in the city of Moscow both vaginally and by a cesarean section
Escherichia coli, which normally makes up a significant part of the normal intestinal flora, was isolated thrice as often in the vaginally born babies (24.2% and 9.1%; p > 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

There are no criteria allowing to adequately assess composition and volume of the newborns' gut microbiota, which prevents early detection of the pathological processes and appropriate intervention. This study aimed to apply the methods of culturomics, proteomics and molecular genetic technologies to investigate the development of gut microbiota in healthy newborns delivered in the city of Moscow both vaginally and through a cesarean section. We examined 66 children, 33 of them delivered vaginally and 33 by cesarean section. We established that cesarean section slows down normal development of the gut microflora: through the follow-up period (1 month of life), gut microbiocenosis in such children did not yield the results on par with those registered in children born vaginally. Bifidobacteria were significantly more common in the vaginal delivery group: 84% of 109–1012 CFU/g versus 33% of 105–1012 CFU/g in the cesarean section group. В то же время у детей, рожденных самопроизвольно, по сравнению с детьми, рожденными путем кесарева сечения, отмечена статистически достоверно более низкая частота обнаружения клостридий (33,3 и 65,4% соответственно) и лактозоотрицательных штаммов Escherichia coli (2,4 и 19,4% соответственно). The reasons are the growing number of complicated pregnancies, stressful situations, poor environmental conditions and uncontrolled intake of antibiotics

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion