Compositional and functional variability of the gut microbiome in children with infantile colic

Abstract

The inconsolable crying of a child for no apparent reason at an early age is a source of excitement and anxiety for parents. Previous studies have reported that crying may be caused by discomfort associated with the occupation of the intestines of the newborn by microbiota and its vital activity. We conducted a prospective observational study in which 62 newborns and their mothers were recruited. The study comprised two groups, each consisting of 15 infants with colic and 21 controls. Colic and control groups were vaginally born and exclusively breastfed. Fecal samples from children were collected over time from day 1 to 12 months. Full metagenomic sequencing of fecal samples from children and their mothers was carried out. It was determined that the trajectory of the development of the intestinal microbiome of children with colic was different from the group without colic. In the colic group, a depleted relative abundance of Bifidobacterium and enrichment of Bacteroides Clostridiales was found, while the microbial biodiversity in this group was enriched. Metabolic pathway profiling showed that the non-colic group was enriched by amino acid biosynthetic pathways, while the feces microbiome of the colic group was enriched by glycolysis metabolic pathways that correlated with the Bacteroides taxon. This study shows that infantile colic has a definite relationship with the microbiome structure of infants.

Probiotics in the New Era of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs): HMO Utilization and Beneficial Effects of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis M-63 on Infant Health

“…Colic in infants, marked by excessive crying and abdominal distress without an established cause, is common and potentially linked to differences in the gut microbiome [178]. Infants with colic have been found to have fewer beneficial gut bacteria like Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii [179]. This connection was explored in a double-blind, randomized, multicenter controlled trial examining the impact of probiotic supplementation with M-63 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LCS-742 in an infant formula enriched with α-lactalbumin-enriched on colic, the nutritional adequacy, and gastrointestinal tolerance [107].…”

Lactobacillus reuteri in digestive system diseases: focus on clinical trials and mechanisms

“…In the past decades, numerous studies illustrated that the GI microbial profiles of infants with colic differ from those without colic in microbial diversity, stability, and community composition (de Weerth et al, 2013;Savino et al, 2017). Moreover, the results showed colicky infants were less frequently colonized by Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and more frequently enriched with the gasforming Coliforms (mostly Escherichia, Klebsiella) or other species (Savino et al, 2009;de Weerth et al, 2013;Savino et al, 2017;Sommermeyer et al, 2022;Kozhakhmetov et al, 2023).…”