Abstract
The intestinal microbiota has emerged as a critical regulator of growth and development in the early postnatal period of life. Cesarean section (CS) delivery is one of the strongest disrupting factors of the normal colonization process and has been reported as a risk factor for disorders in later life. In this study, we dynamically and longitudinally evaluated the impact of CS on the initial colonization pattern and development of gut microbiota by 16 healthy Chinese infants with fecal samples collected at 9 time points (day 5, day 8, day 11, week 2, week 4, week 6, week 7, month 2, and month 3) during the first 3 months of life. The V3–V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene were analyzed by Illumina sequencing. In comparison with vaginally delivered (VD) infants, infants born by CS showed decreased relative abundance of Bacteroides and Parabacteroides and enrichment of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Enterococcus, Klebsiella, Clostridioides, and Veillonella. Most interestingly, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was found to be significantly higher in the CS group than in the VD group from day 5 until month 3. Besides, the results of microbial functions showed that the VD group harbored significantly higher levels of functional genes in vitamin B6 metabolism at day 5, day 8, week 2, week 4, week 6, week 7, month 2, and month 3 and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism at day 5, while the phosphotransferase system and starch and sucrose metabolism involved functional genes were plentiful in the CS group at day 11, week 2, week 4, week 6, week 7, and month 2 and at week 2, week 7, and month 2, respectively. Our results establish a new evidence that CS affected the composition and development of gut microbiota in the first 3 months and provide a novel insight into strategies for CS-related disorders in later life.
Highlights
Accumulating evidence has shown that the gut microbiota plays a fundamental role in the health and disease by assisting in the synthesis and absorption of nutrients, strengthening gut integrity, protecting against enteropathogens, modulating the immune system, and exerting control over the gut–brain axis (Bäumler and Sperandio, 2016; Adak and Khan, 2019; Ahern and Maloy, 2020)
A total of 16 infant volunteers were recruited in the longitudinal cohort study, including 6 of vaginally delivered (VD) and 10 of Cesarean section (CS). 123 fecal samples were collected at 9 time points in the first 3 months of life
There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics between VD and CS-delivered infants, such as infant information and maternal information (Student’s t-test, all p > 0.05), as well as infant information and other information
Summary
Accumulating evidence has shown that the gut microbiota plays a fundamental role in the health and disease by assisting in the synthesis and absorption of nutrients, strengthening gut integrity, protecting against enteropathogens, modulating the immune system, and exerting control over the gut–brain axis (Bäumler and Sperandio, 2016; Adak and Khan, 2019; Ahern and Maloy, 2020). Maternal microbiota exerts a significant effect on the neonatal microbiome and contributes to regulating the development of offspring immunity, metabolism, brain function, and behavior (Jašarevicand Bale, 2019; García-Mantrana et al, 2020). These advantage effects of maternal microbiota can be vertically transmitted to offspring through vaginal delivery (Mueller et al, 2016). Given the effects of CS delivery on the developing microbial colonization process in infants may pose risks for morbidity in later life, it is indispensable to characterize early gut microbiota profiles based on the influence of delivery mode for elucidating the mechanisms underlying their relationship with affected diseases. To predict the functional potential of intestinal flora and point out the direction for the subsequent research, the PICRUSt software was used based on its high accuracy (>90% in most cases) (Douglas et al, 2018)
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