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Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Composition during Pregnancy and Lactation

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A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition in Women".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 November 2022) | Viewed by 11364

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Dr. Marloes Dekker Nitert

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School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Interests: microbiome; pregnancy; obesity; hypertension; diabetes
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Dear Colleagues,

The role of the microbiome (gut, oral, and vaginal) in pregnancy and complications of pregnancy has become apparent over time. Outside pregnancy, it is very clear that dietary intake is a major determinant of the composition of the microbiome, especially the gut microbiota. However, this association between dietary intake and microbiome composition has not been as clearly established. In the post-partum period, appropriate dietary intake is critical for the establishment and maintenance of breastfeeding, and the microbiome of the mother may be a contributing factor. In this special issue, we focus on the interactions between microbiome composition and nutritional intake in pregnancy and lactation to establish the similarities and differences between these interactions in and outside pregnancy. We also want to explore whether complications of pregnancy such as gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy alter the interactions between the microbiome and nutrition.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Marloes Dekker Nitert
Guest Editor

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Keywords

pregnancy
lactation
microbiome
nutrition
gestational diabetes mellitus
hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4459 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Antibiotics Treatment on the Maternal Immune Response and Gut Microbiome in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Mice

by Marijke M. Faas, Yuanrui Liu, Lieske Wekema, Gisela A. Weiss, Carolien A. van Loo-Bouwman and Luis Silva Lagos

Nutrients 2023, 15(12), 2723; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15122723 - 12 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1549

Abstract

The gut microbiota are involved in adaptations of the maternal immune response to pregnancy. We therefore hypothesized that inducing gut dysbiosis during pregnancy alters the maternal immune response. Thus, pregnant mice received antibiotics from day 9 to day 16 to disturb the maternal gut microbiome. Feces were collected before, during and after antibiotic treatment, and microbiota were measured using 16S RNA sequencing. Mice were sacrificed at day 18 of pregnancy and intestinal (Peyer’s patches (PP) and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN)) and peripheral immune responses (blood and spleen) were measured using flow cytometry. Antibiotic treatment decreased fetal and placental weight. The bacterial count and the Shannon index were significantly decreased (Friedman, followed by Dunn’s test, p < 0.05) and the bacterial genera abundance was significantly changed (Permanova, p < 0.05) following antibiotics treatment as compared with before treatment. Splenic Th1 cells and activated blood monocytes were increased, while Th2, Th17 and FoxP3/RoRgT double-positive cells in the PP and MLNs were decreased in pregnant antibiotics-treated mice as compared with untreated pregnant mice. In addition, intestinal dendritic cell subsets were affected by antibiotics. Correlation of immune cells with bacterial genera showed various correlations between immune cells in the PP, MLN and peripheral circulation (blood and spleen). We conclude the disturbed gut microbiota after antibiotics treatment disturbed the maternal immune response. This disturbed maternal immune response may affect fetal and placental weight. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Composition during Pregnancy and Lactation)

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16 pages, 1046 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Insufficient Evidence of a Breastmilk Microbiota at Six-Weeks Postpartum: A Pilot Study

by Sophie M. Leech, Morgan C. Gilbert, Vicki L. Clifton, Sailesh Kumar, Kym M. Rae, Danielle Borg and Marloes Dekker Nitert

Nutrients 2023, 15(3), 696; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15030696 - 30 Jan 2023

Viewed by 2634

Abstract

Breastmilk is thought to influence the infant gut by supplying prebiotics in the form of human milk oligosaccharides and potentially seeding the gut with breastmilk microbes. However, the presence of a breastmilk microbiota and origins of these microbes are still debated. As a pilot study, we assessed the microbes present in expressed breastmilk at six-weeks postpartum using shotgun metagenomic sequencing in a heterogenous cohort of women who delivered by vaginal (n = 8) and caesarean delivery (n = 8). In addition, we estimated the microbial load of breastmilk at six-weeks post-partum with quantitative PCR targeting the 16S rRNA gene. Breastmilk at six-weeks postpartum had a low microbial mass, comparable with PCR no-template and extraction controls. Microbes identified through metagenomic sequencing were largely consistent with skin and oral microbes, with four samples returning no identifiable bacterial sequences. Our results do not provide convincing evidence for the existence of a breastmilk microbiota at six-weeks postpartum. It is more likely that microbes present in breastmilk are sourced by ejection from the infant’s mouth and from surrounding skin, as well as contamination during sampling and processing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Composition during Pregnancy and Lactation)

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12 pages, 2172 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relationship between Diet Quality and Maternal Stool Microbiota in the MUMS Australian Pregnancy Cohort

by Megan L. Gow, Xin-Yi Chua, Emad El-Omar, Daniella Susic and Amanda Henry

Nutrients 2023, 15(3), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15030689 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1896

Abstract

Dietary intake during pregnancy may influence the antenatal microbiome, which is proposed to impact maternal and infant health during the pregnancy and beyond. The aim of this sub-study was to examine associations between dietary intake and microbiota diversity during pregnancy using whole metagenomic sequencing and examine associations in low-risk versus high-risk pregnancies, as well as complicated versus uncomplicated pregnancies. Pregnancy data were analysed from women participating in the MUMS cohort study in Sydney, Australia (women followed from trimester 1 of pregnancy to 1-year postpartum), who had dietary intake data at either trimester 1 or 3, assessed using the Australian Eating Survey, and a matched stool sample (n = 86). Correlations of microbial alpha diversity with dietary intake data were determined using the repeated-measures correlation, rmcorr, in R. In the combined cohort, no associations were found between diet quality or diet composition and microbial alpha diversity or beta diversity. However, trends in our analysis suggested that dietary intake of specific macro- and micronutrients may influence microbial diversity differently, depending on particular pregnancy conditions. Our findings suggest that dietary intake during pregnancy may have a variable influence on the maternal microbiota, unique to the individual maternal pregnancy phenotype. More research is needed to disentangle these associations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Composition during Pregnancy and Lactation)

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24 pages, 7403 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Puerariae lobatae Radix Alleviates Pre-Eclampsia by Remodeling Gut Microbiota and Protecting the Gut and Placental Barriers

by Liping Huang, Zhongyu Liu, Peng Wu, Xiaojing Yue, Zhuoshi Lian, Peishi He, Yarui Liu, Ruisi Zhou and Jie Zhao

Nutrients 2022, 14(23), 5025; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14235025 - 25 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2681

Abstract

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a serious pregnancy complication, and gut dysbiosis is an important cause of it. Puerariae lobatae Radix (PLR) is a medicine and food homologous species; however, its effect on PE is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of PLR in alleviating PE and its mechanisms. We used an NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced PE mouse model to examine the efficacy of preventive and therapeutic PLR supplementation. The results showed that both PLR interventions alleviated hypertension and proteinuria, increased fetal and placental weights, and elevated the levels of VEGF and PlGF. Moreover, PLR protected the placenta from oxidative stress via activating the Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1 pathway and mitigated placental damage by increasing intestinal barrier markers (ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-1) expression and reducing lipopolysaccharide leakage. Notably, preventive PLR administration corrected gut dysbiosis in PE mice, as evidenced by the increased abundance and positive interactions of beneficial bacteria including Bifidobacterium, Blautia, and Turicibacter. Fecal microbiota transplantation confirmed that the gut microbiota partially mediated the beneficial effects of PLR on PE. Our findings revealed that modulating the gut microbiota is an effective strategy for the treatment of PE and highlighted that PLR might be used as an intestinal nutrient supplement in PE patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Composition during Pregnancy and Lactation)

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20 pages, 4312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Maternal Treatment with Metformin Persistently Ameliorates High-Fat Diet-Induced Metabolic Symptoms and Modulates Gut Microbiota in Rat Offspring

by Lin Song, Jiaqi Cui, Shuyuan Hu, Rui Wang, Hongbao Li and Bo Sun

Nutrients 2022, 14(17), 3612; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14173612 - 01 Sep 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2015

Abstract

A maternal high-fat (HF) diet has long-term deleterious effect on offspring. This study aims to evaluate whether maternal metformin (MT) treatment ameliorates the adverse effects of maternal HF diet on offspring and the role of gut microbiota in it. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to a HF diet (60% fat) or a standard chow diet (11.8% fat) group, and part of the HF diet group rats were co-treated with MT via drinking water (300 mg/kg/day), resulting in three groups according to maternal diet and MT treatment during gestation and lactation. All offspring were weaned on a chow diet. A maternal HF diet showed a significant deleterious effect on offspring’s metabolic phenotype and induced colonic inflammation and gut-barrier disruption through the reshaped gut microbiota. The daily oral administration of MT to HF-fed dams during gestation and lactation reversed the dysbiosis of gut microbiota in both dams and adult offspring. The hypothalamic TGR5 expression and plasma bile acids composition in adult male offspring was restored by maternal MT treatment, which could regulate hypothalamic appetite-related peptides expression and alleviate inflammation, thereby improving male offspring’s metabolic phenotype. The present study indicates that targeting the gut–brain axis through the mother may be an effective strategy to control the metabolic phenotype of offspring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Gut Microbiome Composition during Pregnancy and Lactation)

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