Impact of delivery mode on the colostrum microbiota composition

Marco Toscano,Valentina Facchin,Diego Giampietro Peroni,Enzo Grossi,Lorenzo Drago,Roberta De Grandi,Pasquale Comberiati

doi:10.1186/s12866-017-1109-0

Abstract

BackgroundBreast milk is a rich nutrient with a temporally dynamic nature. In particular, numerous alterations in the nutritional, immunological and microbiological content occur during the transition from colostrum to mature milk. The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential impact of delivery mode on the microbiota of colostrum, at both the quantitative and qualitative levels (bacterial abundance and microbiota network).MethodsTwenty-nine Italian mothers (15 vaginal deliveries vs 14 Cesarean sections) were enrolled in the study. The microbiota of colostrum samples was analyzed by next generation sequencing (Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine). The colostrum microbiota network associated with Cesarean section and vaginal delivery was evaluated by means of the Auto Contractive Map (AutoCM), a mathematical methodology based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architecture.ResultsNumerous differences between Cesarean section and vaginal delivery colostrum were observed. Vaginal delivery colostrum had a significant lower abundance of Pseudomonas spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Prevotella spp. when compared to Cesarean section colostrum samples. Furthermore, the mode of delivery had a strong influence on the microbiota network, as Cesarean section colostrum showed a higher number of bacterial hubs if compared to vaginal delivery, sharing only 5 hubs. Interestingly, the colostrum of mothers who had a Cesarean section was richer in environmental bacteria than mothers who underwent vaginal delivery. Finally, both Cesarean section and vaginal delivery colostrum contained a greater number of anaerobic bacteria genera.ConclusionsThe mode of delivery had a large impact on the microbiota composition of colostrum. Further studies are needed to better define the meaning of the differences we observed between Cesarean section and vaginal delivery colostrum microbiota.

Highlights

Breast milk is a rich nutrient with a temporally dynamic nature
Bacterial diversity in the colostrum microbiota in relation to the mode of delivery To evaluate any differences in the bacterial diversity between the colostrum belonging to mothers who underwent natural delivery and mothers who delivered by C-section, we calculated the Shannon, Simpson and Chao’s indices (Fig. 1)
Bacterial differences in colostrum microbiota in relation to the mode of delivery Several significant differences were observed comparing the microbiota composition of C-section colostrum with that of vaginal delivery (Fig. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Breast milk is a rich nutrient with a temporally dynamic nature. In particular, numerous alterations in the nutritional, immunological and microbiological content occur during the transition from colostrum to mature milk. The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential impact of delivery mode on the microbiota of colostrum, at both the quantitative and qualitative levels (bacterial abundance and microbiota network). The transition from colostrum to mature milk influences the bacterial composition, as changes in the abundance of several microorganisms, together with a significant modification of bacterial interactions (microbiota network) have been detected [9]. These findings highlight the extreme dynamic nature of human breast milk as a result of external and internal influences. The specific mechanisms involved in the origin of colostrum and mature milk microbiota are still under investigation, two main hypotheses exist: i) the existence of an entero-mammary pathway, which could lead intestinal bacteria directly to the mammary ducts by means of dendritic cells and CD18+ cells; ii) a retrograde flow during nursing whereby the oral bacteria of infants could influence the colostrum microbiota [9, 11]

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