Characteristics of the Intestinal Microbiota in Very Low Birth Weight Infants With Extrauterine Growth Restriction

Abstract

Objective: Very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, which experience significant postnatal growth restriction at the time of discharge, are at high risk of later growth failure and long-term consequences. This study aims to characterize the structure of intestinal microbiome community in VLBW infants with extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR). Methods: Twenty-three VLBW infants appropriate for gestational age (GA) hospitalized at the neonatal intensive care unit of the BaoAn Maternal and Child Care Hospital (Shenzhen, China) were enrolled in this study, which were divided into the growth restriction group (EUGR; n = 12) and the normal growth group (AGA; n = 11). Meconium and fecal samples at postnatal day 28 were collected respectively during hospitalization. Total bacterial DNA was extracted and sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq Sequencing System based on the V3–V4 hyper-variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Results: The intestinal bacterial communities of preterm infants were dominated by the phylum Proteobacteria . Compared with the AGA group, the relative abundances of the genera Aeromicrobium and Serratia in meconium samples significantly decreased, whereas genera Parabacteroides, Ruminococcus, Blautia , and Aeromonas were more prevalent in the EUGR group. On postnatal day 28, the relative abundances of the genera Parabacteroides, Bacteroides, Eubacterium, Granulicatella , and Salinivibrio were significantly different between the two groups, where genus Salinivibrio decreased significantly in the EUGR samples. Among them, genus Parabacteroides was more abundant on both postnatal day 1 and 28. Further KEGG prediction analysis showed that there were many differences in functional genes and pathways between the two groups on postnatal day 28, but not on day 1, the majority of which were related to energy metabolism. And no statistical differences were observed in the clinical characteristics of infants. Conclusions: Overall, these findings showed that a distinct gut microbiota profile presented in preterm infants with EUGR. The role of intestinal microbiome in the extrauterine growth of preterm infants during hospitalization should be further investigated.

Comparison of Meconium Microbiome in Dizygotic and Monozygotic Twins Born by Caesarean Section (CS)

“…Twin neonates born by C-section are colonized by dominance of four phyla including Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. This result was consistent with a previous study aiming to characterize the structure of intestinal microbiome community in very low birth weight infants with extrauterine growth restriction (Li et al, 2019) and infant twin pairs (Maqsood et al, 2019), in which the main phyla were the four phyla and Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum among them. It was also reported in former studies that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the main phyla represented during the first days of life in the feces of C-sectiondelivered (Jakobsson et al, 2014).…”

Gut and Lung Microbiota in Preterm Infants: Immunological Modulation and Implication in Neonatal Outcomes

“…Li et al (52) demonstrated that preterm infants with growth failure have a distinct intestinal microbiome's profile when compared to infants with normal growth at postnatal days 1 and 28. At both time points, the sole highly abundant taxa in the EUGR group was the genus Parabacteroides, which is a gram-negative, anaerobic, non-spore forming genus.…”

Clinical Study of Correlation for the Intestinal and Pharyngeal Microbiota in the Premature Neonates

“…Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in human health and disease ( 1 ). In recent years, numerous studies have shown that infant intestinal microbiota affects the growth and development of children ( 2 , 3 ), and are associated with neonatal sepsis, neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis ( 4 ), childhood obesity ( 5 ), asthma, eczema ( 6 ), and diabetes ( 7 ), hypertension ( 8 ), and other diseases in adulthood. It is commonly believed that the uterus is sterile and the colonization of microbiota began after birth.…”