Associations between Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Inflammation, Permeability and Damage in Young Malawian Children.
J Trop Pediatr
; 68(2)2022 02 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35149871
Chronic childhood undernutrition is an important public health concern that affects about 150 million children, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. Undernutrition is caused by insufficient nutrient intake and frequent infections, but there are also other underlying factors. One of these is a condition called environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), which is characterized by intestinal inflammation and damage without apparent clinical symptoms. EED is thought to be caused by the ingestion of pathogenic bacteria that leads to changes in the intestine such as increased permeability and decreased absorptive capacity. This might make the intestinal wall vulnerable to bacterial invasion and reduce the absorption of nutrients. Besides potentially pathogenic bacteria, there are many commensal bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract that have beneficial functions and that interact with the immune system. The aim of our study was to assess the associations between all these bacteria, that is the intestinal microbiota and biomarkers of EED. We used data from fecal samples collected from young children participating in a nutrition intervention trial in rural Malawi. Our findings support an inverse association between the diversity and maturity of the intestinal microbiota and biomarkers of EED. Additionally, we identified the differences at the level of individual bacterial taxa (groups of bacteria defined by genetic similarity) between participants with different levels of EED biomarkers. Due to the type of study, we cannot determine whether the observed associations represent a causal relationship between the intestinal microbiota and EED. This as well as the exact mechanisms behind these associations should be assessed in further studies.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Microbioma Gastrointestinal
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Child
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Trop Pediatr
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Finlândia
País de publicação:
Reino Unido