Human milk microbiota associated with early colonization of the neonatal gut in Mexican newborns.

Karina Corona-Cervantes,Fernando Hernández-Quiroz,Loan Edel Villalobos-Flores,Alberto Piña-Escobedo,Jaime García-Mena,Igrid García-González,Martín Noé Rangel-Calvillo,Carlos Hoyo-Vadillo

doi:10.7717/peerj.9205

Abstract

BackgroundHuman milk microbiota plays a role in the bacterial colonization of the neonatal gut, which has important consequences in the health and development of the newborn. However, there are few studies about the vertical transfer of bacteria from mother to infant in Latin American populations.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional study characterizing the bacterial diversity of 67 human milk-neonatal stool pairs by high-throughput sequencing of V3-16S rDNA libraries, to assess the effect of the human milk microbiota on the bacterial composition of the neonate’s gut at early days.ResultsHuman milk showed higher microbial diversity as compared to the neonatal stool. Members of the Staphylococcaceae and Sphingomonadaceae families were more prevalent in human milk, whereas the Pseudomonadaceae family, Clostridium and Bifidobacterium genera were in the neonatal stool. The delivery mode showed association with the neonatal gut microbiota diversity, but not with the human milk microbiota diversity; for instance, neonates born by C-section showed greater richness and diversity in stool microbiota than those born vaginally. We found 25 bacterial taxa shared by both ecosystems and 67.7% of bacteria found in neonate stool were predicted to originate from human milk. This study contributes to the knowledge of human milk and neonatal stool microbiota in healthy Mexican population and supports the idea of vertical mother-neonate transmission through exclusive breastfeeding.

Highlights

Human milk provides essential nutrients, bioactive substrates (Fernández et al, 2013), as well as prebiotics like the human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) (Ward et al, 2006), How to cite this article Corona-Cervantes K, García-González I, Villalobos-Flores LE, Hernández-Quiroz F, Piña-Escobedo A, HoyoVadillo C, Rangel-Calvillo MN, García-Mena J. 2020
In this cross-sectional study, we characterized the profile of the human milk microbiota from healthy Mexican mothers and the fecal microbiota of their neonates, finding that human milk contributes with the 67.7% of the bacteria within the first six days postpartum
Our study provides the first results on human milk microbiota obtained under physiological conditions in healthy Mexican mothers, and its association on the early colonization of the neonatal gut, as well as the effect of delivery mode on the human milk and neonatal stool microbiota

Summary

Introduction

Human milk provides essential nutrients, bioactive substrates (Fernández et al, 2013), as well as prebiotics like the human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) (Ward et al, 2006), How to cite this article Corona-Cervantes K, García-González I, Villalobos-Flores LE, Hernández-Quiroz F, Piña-Escobedo A, HoyoVadillo C, Rangel-Calvillo MN, García-Mena J. 2020. Human milk microbiota associated with early colonization of the neonatal gut in Mexican newborns. The human milk contains a rich community of bacteria that has been proposed to originate from the neonate’s oral cavity, the breast surface (mother’s skin), the lobules and lactiferous ducts in the lactating women (commonly called ‘‘BreastfeedingAssociated Microbiota’’), or through an entero-mammary pathway. This last hypothesis states that maternal gut bacteria are translocated by dendritic cells through the intestinal epithelial barrier and are transported to the mammary glands via lymphatic circulation. This study contributes to the knowledge of human milk and neonatal stool microbiota in healthy Mexican population and supports the idea of vertical mother-neonate transmission through exclusive breastfeeding

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Discussion

Conclusion