Abstract
Early life gut microbiota have been increasingly recognized as major contributors to short and/or long-term human health and diseases. Numerous studies have demonstrated that human gut microbial colonization begins at birth, but continues to develop a succession of taxonomic abundances for two to three years until the gut microbiota reaches adult-like diversity and proportions. Several factors, including gestational age (GA), delivery mode, birth weight, feeding types, antibiotic exposure, maternal microbiome, and diet, influence the diversity, abundance, and function of early life gut microbiota. Gut microbial life is essential for assisting with the digestion of food substances to release nutrients, exerting control over pathogens, stimulating or modulating the immune system, and influencing many systems such as the liver, brain, and endocrine system. Microbial metabolites play multiple roles in these interactions. Furthermore, studies provide evidence supporting that imbalances of the gut microbiota in early life, referred to as dysbiosis, are associated with specific childhood or adult disease outcomes, such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, diabetes, allergic diseases, obesity, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and neurological disorders. These findings support that the human gut microbiota may play a fundamental role in the risk of acquiring diseases that may be programmed during early life. In fact, it is critical to explore the role of the human gut microbiota in early life.
Highlights
Developmental Origins of Health and DiseaseThe microbiome refers to all sequenced DNA in a niche, which includes both living and dead microbes, while microbiota refers to the actual living organisms
Zhu et al [188] recently provided evidence in a Parkinson’s Disease (PD) mouse model that gut dysbiosis is associated with disturbances in the Dopamine, Kynurenine, and 5-hyroxytryptamine metabolic pathways of neurotransmitters involved in the gut–brain axis, increased α-Syn, and increases in other abnormalities associated with PD development
Acquisition of gut microbiota and a stable gut microbial community in the early stages of life is closely associated with human health
Summary
The microbiome refers to all sequenced DNA in a niche, which includes both living and dead microbes, while microbiota refers to the actual living organisms. The establishment of the signature core microbiome begins in early life and is associated with both maternal pregnancy-related factors and early life events, such as type of delivery, formula feeding, gestational age (GA), adverse childhood events, antibiotic exposure, and ecological factors [1,2,3] These alterations may set the stage for potential lifelong perturbations in the core microbiome that predict pathophysiology associated with senescence, such as inflammation, insulin resistance, immune senescence, mutation accumulation, and epigenetic changes. The DOHaD hypothesis has since been expanded to account for many types of early life exposures and birth outcomes associated with long-term health and development, including allergic disease, cardiovascular disease (CVD), obesity, diabetes, and neurological disorders in later life [14]. Sensitive windows in infant development parallel sensitive periods of microbiome development during early life, and the gut microbiota and its associated metabolites may mediate many of the effects on later health and disease. We have summarized the interaction of the gut microbiome with the host immune and nervous system and we have illustrated the association of the gut microbiome for several human diseases based upon the latest knowledge and understanding
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