Abstract
Background and Purpose: Early life microbiota plays a crucial role in human health by acting as a barrier from pathogens' invasion and maintaining the intestinal immune homoeostasis. Altered fecal microbiota (FM) ecology was reported in newborns affected by intestinal ischemia. Our purpose was to describe, in these patients, the FM, the mucosal microbiota (MM) and the mucosal immunity.Methods: Fourteen newborns underwent intestinal resection because of intestinal ischemia. FM and MM were determined through targeted-metagenomics, diversity assignment and Kruskal-Wallis analyses of Operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The mucosal immune cells were analyzed through cytofluorimetry.Results and Conclusion: Based on the severity intestinal injueris we identified two groups: extensive (EII) and focal intestinal ischemia (FII). FM and MM varied in EII and FII groups, showing in the EII group the predominance of Proteobacteria and Enterobacteriaceae and the reduction of Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia for both microbiota. The MM was characterized by a statistically significant reduction of Bacteroides, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae and by a higher diversity in the EII compared to FII group. FM showed a prevalence of Proteobacteria, while the Shannon index was lower in the EII compared to FII group. An overall increment in B- and T-lymphocytes and Natural killer (NK) T-like cells was found for EII mucosal samples associated to an increment of TNF-α and INF-γ expressing cells, compared to FII group. FM and MM carry specific signatures of intestinal ischemic lesions. Further research may be crucial to address the role of specific taxa in EII, expecially with reference to inflammation grade and ischemia extension.
Highlights
Background and PurposeEarly life microbiota plays a crucial role in human health by acting as a barrier from pathogens’ invasion and maintaining the intestinal immune homoeostasis
Based on the severity of intestinal injuries, patients were divided into two groups: seven patients with extensive intestinal ischemia, EII, and seven patients with focal intestinal ischemia, FII
Alpha-diversity analysis not revealed a statistical difference in microbiota richness in mucosal microbiota (MM) between EII and FII, the Shannon index mean value was 3.8 ± 1.6 for EII and 2.2 ± 1.4 for FII
Summary
Background and PurposeEarly life microbiota plays a crucial role in human health by acting as a barrier from pathogens’ invasion and maintaining the intestinal immune homoeostasis. Since the perinatal life the microbiota commensals play an important role by acting as a barrier against pathogens, stimulating the development of immune system (IS) (Groer et al, 2014; Putignani et al, 2014). Dysbiosis associated to impair IS is linkedto a high risk of late onset neonatal sepsis in very preterm newborns (Maynard et al, 2012; Sherman et al, 2015) In spite of these considerations, the comprehension of the mutual relationship between the intestinal IS and the microbiome in neonatal intestinal ischemic injuries is still unclear (Maynard et al, 2012; Engstrand Lilja et al, 2015). We decided to study the mucosal and fecal microbiota composition and the mucosal immunity in newborns affected by Abbreviations: NEC, Necrotizing Enterocolitis; OTUs, Operational taxonomic units; LMPC, Lamina propria mononuclear cells; TNFα, Tumor necrosis factor alpha; INFγ, Interferon gamma
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