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. 2016 Apr 1:6:23133.
doi: 10.1038/srep23133.

Birth mode-dependent association between pre-pregnancy maternal weight status and the neonatal intestinal microbiome

Noel T Mueller  1 , Hakdong Shin  2 , Aline Pizoni  3 , Isabel C Werlang  3 , Ursula Matte  4 , Marcelo Z Goldani  5   6 , Helena A S Goldani  3   5   6 , Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello  2
Affiliations

Birth mode-dependent association between pre-pregnancy maternal weight status and the neonatal intestinal microbiome

Noel T Mueller et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The intestinal microbiome is a unique ecosystem that influences metabolism in humans. Experimental evidence indicates that intestinal microbiota can transfer an obese phenotype from humans to mice. Since mothers transmit intestinal microbiota to their offspring during labor, we hypothesized that among vaginal deliveries, maternal body mass index is associated with neonatal gut microbiota composition. We report the association of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index on stool microbiota from 74 neonates, 18 born vaginally (5 to overweight or obese mothers) and 56 by elective C-section (26 to overweight or obese mothers). Compared to neonates delivered vaginally to normal weight mothers, neonates born to overweight or obese mothers had a distinct gut microbiota community structure (weighted UniFrac distance PERMANOVA, p < 0.001), enriched in Bacteroides and depleted in Enterococcus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Hydrogenophilus. We show that these microbial signatures are predicted to result in functional differences in metabolic signaling and energy regulation. In contrast, among elective Cesarean deliveries, maternal body mass index was not associated with neonatal gut microbiota community structure (weighted UniFrac distance PERMANOVA, p = 0.628). Our findings indicate that excess maternal pre-pregnancy weight is associated with differences in neonatal acquisition of microbiota during vaginal delivery, but not Cesarean delivery. These differences may translate to altered maintenance of metabolic health in the offspring.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Bacterial beta diversity in neonatal feces according to mode of delivery and maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI).
Weighted UniFrac distances were used to evaluate beta diversity. PERMANOVA was used to test dissimilarity.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Differences in relative abundance of bacterial taxa in neonatal feces, jointly stratified by delivery mode and maternal pre-pregnancy BMI.
(A,B) Bacterial taxa plots at the phylum (A) and genus (B) levels. Each taxa >1% of the average relative abundance in groups is indicated by a different color. Taxa are reported at the lowest identifiable level, indicated by the letter preceding the underscore: f, family; g, genus. C. Histogram of biomarker bacteria in each group. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) Effect Size (>3.0-fold) was used to determine statistically significant biomarkers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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