Association of maternal prenatal psychological stressors and distress with maternal and early infant faecal bacterial profile

Abstract

Objective:Findings from animal studies indicate that the early gut bacteriome is a potential mechanism linking maternal prenatal stress with health trajectories in offspring. However, clinical studies are scarce and the associations of maternal psychological profiles with the early infant faecal bacteriome are unknown. This study aimed to investigate the associations of prenatal stressors and distress with early infant faecal bacterial profiles in a South African birth cohort study.Methods:Associations between prenatal symptoms of depression, distress, intimate partner violence (IPV) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and faecal bacterial profiles were evaluated in meconium and subsequent stool specimens from 84 mothers and 101 infants at birth, and longitudinally from a subset of 69 and 36 infants at 4–12 and 20–28 weeks of age, respectively, in a South African birth cohort study.Results:Infants born to mothers that were exposed to high levels of IPV had significantly higher proportions of Citrobacter and three unclassified genera, all of which belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae detected at birth. Proportions of these Enterobacteriaceae remained significantly increased over time (birth to 20–28 weeks of life) in infants born to mothers with high levels of IPV exposure compared to infants from mothers with no/low IPV exposure. Infants born to mothers exposed to IPV also had higher proportions of the genus Weissella at 4–12 weeks compared to infants from mothers with no/low IPV exposure. Faecal specimens from mothers exposed to IPV had higher proportions of the family Lactobacillaceae and lower proportions of Peptostreptococcaceae at birth. Maternal psychological distress was associated with decreased proportions of the family Veillonellaceae in infants at 20–28 weeks and a slower decline in Gammaproteobacteria over time. No changes in beta diversity were apparent for maternal or infant faecal bacterial profiles in relation to any of the prenatal measures for psychological adversities.Conclusion:Maternal lifetime IPV and antenatal psychological distress are associated with altered bacterial profiles in infant and maternal faecal bacteria. These findings may provide insights in the involvement of the gut bacteria linking maternal psychological adversity and the maturing infant brain.

Involvement of Gut Microbiota in Schizophrenia and Treatment Resistance to Antipsychotics

“…Other observations derived from our analysis should be considered in the context of the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of SCZ, namely the decreased relative abundance of Intestinibacter and Weisella in SCZ compared to HC. Both sets of finding appear at odds with the observations of increased levels of Intestinibacter in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism [ 45 ], a disorder that shares some clinical features of SCZ, and of Weisella in infants born to mothers exposed to interpersonal violence compared to those with no/low exposure [ 46 ].…”

Effectiveness of Probiotic, Prebiotic, and Synbiotic Supplementation to Improve Perinatal Mental Health in Mothers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In view of geographic area differences in gut microbial composition (50), the conduct of the Dawe et al and Slykerman et al RCTs in the same country (of New Zealand) may ensure a level of homogeneity in baseline gut microbial composition. However, these trials enrolled women with a different ethnicity and socioeconomic profiles, and likely, with dissimilar underlying risk for poor mental health (51) and dysbiosis of pregnancy gut microbiota (52). It is noteworthy then, that despite potential differences in the psychosocial and gut microbial profile of study women across the two RCTs, a benefit was found for a lactobacillus probiotic intervention.…”

Gut Microbiota and Depressive Symptoms at the End of CRT for Rectal Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study

“…Adding to the complex association between gut microbiome and depression, there is also evidence that antimicrobials used to treat depression can result in gut dysbiosis through antimicrobial effects (Ting-Ting [ 62 , 63 ]). Another Firmicutes genus that was significantly associated with depressive symptom scores, Weissella , was previously identified in infants born to mothers exposed to psychological stressors and distress such as intimate partner violence [ 64 ]. Nevertheless, the source of these depression-associated genera in the gut and the exact mechanisms of how they affect or are affected by brain functions and behavior require further study.…”