Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and its SpaC pilus adhesin modulate inflammatory responsiveness and TLR-related gene expression in the fetal human gut.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial contact in utero modulates fetal and neonatal immune responses. Maternal probiotic supplementation reduces the risk of immune-mediated disease in the infant. We investigated the immunomodulatory properties of live Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and its SpaC pilus adhesin in human fetal intestinal models. METHODS: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α mRNA expression was measured by qPCR in a human fetal intestinal organ culture model exposed to live L. rhamnosus GG and proinflammatory stimuli. Binding of recombinant SpaC pilus protein to intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) was assessed in human fetal intestinal organ culture and the human fetal intestinal epithelial cell line H4 by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence, respectively. TLR-related gene expression in fetal ileal organ culture after exposure to recombinant SpaC was assessed by qPCR. RESULTS: Live L. rhamnosus GG significantly attenuates pathogen-induced TNF-α mRNA expression in the human fetal gut. Recombinant SpaC protein was found to adhere to the fetal gut and to modulate varying levels of TLR-related gene expression. CONCLUSION: The human fetal gut is responsive to luminal microbes. L. rhamnosus GG significantly attenuates fetal intestinal inflammatory responses to pathogenic bacteria. The L. rhamnosus GG pilus adhesin SpaC binds to immature human IECs and directly modulates IEC innate immune gene expression.

Gross blood in stools of premature neonates, a clinical and microbiological follow-up study.

AIM: To characterize the clinical course and the gut microecology of premature infants with macroscopic gross blood in stools. METHODS: We studied 14 premature infants receiving breast milk supplemented with probiotics, according to our units practice, with macroscopic blood in stools without signs of ileus or systemic infection upon occurrence of the symptom and 14 days later. Controls were matched prospectively by gestational and postnatal age and type of feeding. Gut microbiota composition was analysed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and the presence of enteric viruses in the stools was assayed by PCR and by reverse transcription reaction followed by PCR (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The symptom was transient, benign and self-limiting and none of the background factors explained it. No enteric viruses were detected, and the bacterial analyses showed no statistically significant differences between the infants with or without gross blood in stools. The characterization of the gut microbiota revealed low bacterial diversity. CONCLUSION: Gross blood in the stools of premature infants without other clinical signs of infection can be an innocuous and self-limiting symptom. This cohort of preterm infants receiving breast milk supplemented with probiotics showed no alterations in gut microecology to be associated with the symptom.

Systemic cross-talk between brain, gut, and peripheral tissues in glucose homeostasis: effects of exercise training (CROSSYS). Exercise training intervention in monozygotic twins discordant for body weight.

BACKGROUND: Obesity and physical inactivity are major global public health concerns, both of which increase the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Regulation of glucose homeostasis involves cross-talk between the central nervous system, peripheral tissues, and gut microbiota, and is affected by genetics. Systemic cross-talk between brain, gut, and peripheral tissues in glucose homeostasis: effects of exercise training (CROSSYS) aims to gain new systems-level understanding of the central metabolism in human body, and how exercise training affects this cross-talk. METHODS: CROSSYS is an exercise training intervention, in which participants are monozygotic twins from pairs discordant for body mass index (BMI) and within a pair at least the other is overweight. Twins are recruited from three population-based longitudinal Finnish twin studies, including twins born in 1983-1987, 1975-1979, and 1945-1958. The participants undergo 6-month-long exercise intervention period, exercising four times a week (including endurance, strength, and high-intensity training). Before and after the exercise intervention, comprehensive measurements are performed in Turku PET Centre, Turku, Finland. The measurements include: two positron emission tomography studies (insulin-stimulated whole-body and tissue-specific glucose uptake and neuroinflammation), magnetic resonance imaging (brain morphology and function, quantification of body fat masses and organ volumes), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (quantification of fat within heart, pancreas, liver and tibialis anterior muscle), echocardiography, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biopsies, a neuropsychological test battery as well as biosamples from blood, urine and stool. The participants also perform a maximal exercise capacity test and tests of muscular strength. DISCUSSION: This study addresses the major public health problems related to modern lifestyle, obesity, and physical inactivity. An eminent strength of this project is the possibility to study monozygotic twin pairs that share the genome at the sequence level but are discordant for BMI that is a risk factor for metabolic impairments such as insulin resistance. Thus, this exercise training intervention elucidates the effects of obesity on metabolism and whether regular exercise training is able to reverse obesity-related impairments in metabolism in the absence of the confounding effects of genetic factors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT03730610 . Prospectively registered 5 November 2018.

Shifts on Gut Microbiota Associated to Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Specific Dietary Intakes on General Adult Population.

There is increasing evidence for the interaction between gut microbiome, diet, and health. It is known that dysbiosis is related to disease and that most of the times this imbalances in gut microbial populations can be promoted through diet. Western dietary habits, which are characterized by high intakes of calories, animal proteins, saturated fats, and simple sugars have been linked with higher risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about the impact of dietary patterns, dietary components, and nutrients on gut microbiota in healthy people. The aim of our study is to determine the effect of nutrient compounds as well as adherence to a dietary pattern, as the Mediterranean diet (MD) on the gut microbiome of healthy adults. Consequently, gut microbiota composition in healthy individuals, may be used as a potential biomarker to identify nutritional habits as well as risk of disease related to these habits. Dietary information from healthy volunteers (n = 27) was recorded using the Food Frequency Questionnaire. Adherence to the MD was measured using the PREDIMED test. Microbiota composition and diversity were obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Microbial metabolic activity was determined by quantification of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results indicated that a higher ratio of Firmicutes-Bacteroidetes was related to lower adherence to the MD, and greater presence of Bacteroidetes was associated with lower animal protein intake. High consumption of animal protein, saturated fats, and sugars affected gut microbiota diversity. A significant higher presence of Christensenellaceae was found in normal-weight individuals compared to those who were overweight. This was also the case in volunteers with greater adherence to the MD compared to those with lower adherence. Butyricimonas, Desulfovibrio, and Oscillospira genera were associated with a BMI <25 and the genus Catenibacterium with a higher PREDIMED score. Higher bifidobacterial counts, and higher total SCFA were related to greater consumption of plant-based nutrients, such as vegetable proteins and polysaccharides. Better adherence to the MD was associated with significantly higher levels of total SCFA. Consequently, diet and specific dietary components could affect microbiota composition, diversity, and activity, which may have an effect on host metabolism by increasing the risk of Western diseases.

Oral microbiome development during childhood: an ecological succession influenced by postnatal factors and associated with tooth decay.

Information on how the oral microbiome develops during early childhood and how external factors influence this ecological process is scarce. We used high-throughput sequencing to characterize bacterial composition in saliva samples collected at 3, 6, 12, 24 months and 7 years of age in 90 longitudinally followed children, for whom clinical, dietary and health data were collected. Bacterial composition patterns changed through time, starting with "early colonizers", including Streptococcus and Veillonella; other bacterial genera such as Neisseria settled after 1 or 2 years of age. Dental caries development was associated with diverging microbial composition through time. Streptococcus cristatus appeared to be associated with increased risk of developing tooth decay and its role as potential biomarker of the disease should be studied with species-specific probes. Infants born by C-section had initially skewed bacterial content compared with vaginally delivered infants, but this was recovered with age. Shorter breastfeeding habits and antibiotic treatment during the first 2 years of age were associated with a distinct bacterial composition at later age. The findings presented describe oral microbiota development as an ecological succession where altered colonization pattern during the first year of life may have long-term consequences for child´s oral and systemic health.

Preterm Gut Microbiome Depending on Feeding Type: Significance of Donor Human Milk.

Preterm microbial colonization is affected by gestational age, antibiotic treatment, type of birth, but also by type of feeding. Breast milk has been acknowledged as the gold standard for human nutrition. In preterm infants breast milk has been associated with improved growth and cognitive development and a reduced risk of necrotizing enterocolitis and late onset sepsis. In the absence of their mother's own milk (MOM), pasteurized donor human milk (DHM) could be the best available alternative due to its similarity to the former. However, little is known about the effect of DHM upon preterm microbiota and potential biological implications. Our objective was to determine the impact of DHM upon preterm gut microbiota admitted in a referral neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A prospective observational cohort study in NICU of 69 neonates <32 weeks of gestation and with a birth weight ≤1,500 g was conducted. Neonates were classified in three groups according to feeding practices consisting in their MOM, DHM, or formula. Fecal samples were collected when full enteral feeding (defined as ≥150 cc/kg/day) was achieved. Gut microbiota composition was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Despite the higher variability, no differences in microbial diversity and richness were found, although feeding type significantly influenced the preterm microbiota composition and predictive functional profiles. Preterm infants fed MOM showed a significant greater presence of Bifidobacteriaceae and lower of Staphylococcaceae, Clostridiaceae, and Pasteurellaceae compared to preterm fed DHM. Formula fed microbial profile was different to those observed in preterm fed MOM. Remarkably, preterm infants fed DHM showed closer microbial profiles to preterm fed their MOM. Inferred metagenomic analyses showed higher presence of Bifidobacterium genus in mother's milk group was related to enrichment in the Glycan biosynthesis and metabolism pathway that was not identified in the DHM or in the formula fed groups. In conclusion, DHM favors an intestinal microbiome more similar to MOM than formula despite the differences between MOM and DHM. This may have potential beneficial long-term effects on intestinal functionality, immune system, and metabolic activities.

Mice exposed to infant formula enriched with polyamines: impact on host transcriptome and microbiome.

Previous studies using a BALB/cOlaHsd model have shown the impact that the supplementation of infant formula with polyamines has on the modulation of microbial colonization and immune system development. To contribute to deciphering and identifying new complex interactions underlying the host response to polyamines, a systems biology approach integrating data from microbiota along the gastrointestinal tract, lymphocyte populations and immune system gene expression analysis of a lactating mice model fed different diets was carried out. The study design included four different dietary regimens including the following: mice fed by normal lactation; early weaned mice given commercial infant formula; and early weaned mice fed with infant formula enriched with two different concentrations of polyamines. Cluster analysis by principal component analysis and heat map demonstrated that the bacterial communities and immune system status differed between groups. The assessment of the relationship between immune system development, microbiota succession and polyamine supplementation in a global manner proved that the supplementation of infant formula with polyamines promotes similar microbial communities along the whole gastrointestinal tract, and results in similar lymphocyte populations and expression of immune related-genes to those with the normal lactated milk and the results differ from those with the infant formula without polyamines. Further studies should be conducted in human subjects to verify the current results, as the supplementation of polyamines may resemble the effect of natural breastfeeding practices in the gastrointestinal microbiota and immune system development in a mouse model.

Relationship between Milk Microbiota, Bacterial Load, Macronutrients, and Human Cells during Lactation.

Human breast milk is considered the optimal nutrition for infants, providing essential nutrients and a broad range of bioactive compounds, as well as its own microbiota. However, the interaction among those components and the biological role of milk microorganisms is still uncovered. Thus, our aim was to identify the relationships between milk microbiota composition, bacterial load, macronutrients, and human cells during lactation. Bacterial load was estimated in milk samples from a total of 21 healthy mothers through lactation time by bacteria-specific qPCR targeted to the single-copy gene fusA. Milk microbiome composition and diversity was estimated by 16S-pyrosequencing and the structure of these bacteria in the fluid was studied by flow cytometry, qPCR, and microscopy. Fat, protein, lactose, and dry extract of milk as well as the number of somatic cells were also analyzed. We observed that milk bacterial communities were generally complex, and showed individual-specific profiles. Milk microbiota was dominated by Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, and Acinetobacter. Staphylococcus aureus was not detected in any of these samples from healthy mothers. There was high variability in composition and number of bacteria per milliliter among mothers and in some cases even within mothers at different time points. The median bacterial load was 10(6) bacterial cells/ml through time, higher than those numbers reported by 16S gene PCR and culture methods. Furthermore, milk bacteria were present in a free-living, "planktonic" state, but also in equal proportion associated to human immune cells. There was no correlation between bacterial load and the amount of immune cells in milk, strengthening the idea that milk bacteria are not sensed as an infection by the immune system.

Distinct Patterns in Human Milk Microbiota and Fatty Acid Profiles Across Specific Geographic Locations.

Breast feeding results in long term health benefits in the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases at both individual and population levels. Geographical location directly impacts the composition of breast milk including microbiota and lipids. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of geographical location, i.e., Europe (Spain and Finland), Africa (South Africa), and Asia (China), on breast milk microbiota and lipid composition in samples obtained from healthy mothers after the 1 month of lactation. Altogether, 80 women (20 from each country) participated in the study, with equal number of women who delivered by vaginal or cesarean section from each country. Lipid composition particularly that of polyunsaturated fatty acids differed between the countries, with the highest amount of n-6 PUFA (25.6%) observed in the milk of Chinese women. Milk microbiota composition also differed significantly between the countries (p = 0.002). Among vaginally delivered women, Spanish women had highest amount of Bacteroidetes (mean relative abundance of 3.75) whereas Chinese women had highest amount of Actinobacteria (mean relative abundance 5.7). Women who had had a cesarean section had higher amount of Proteobacteria as observed in the milk of the Spanish and South African women. Interestingly, the Spanish and South African women had significantly higher bacterial genes mapped to lipid, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism (p < 0.05). Association of the lipid profile with the microbiota revealed that monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were negatively associated with Proteobacteria (r = -0.43, p < 0.05), while Lactobacillus genus was associated with MUFA (r = -0.23, p = 0.04). These findings reveal that the milk microbiota and lipid composition exhibit differences based on geographical locations in addition to the differences observed due to the mode of delivery.

Infant formula supplemented with polyamines alters the intestinal microbiota in neonatal BALB/cOlaHsd mice.

Polyamines play a critical role in the development of intestinal and immune systems during the infant breastfeeding period, but the effect of polyamines on the microbiota has not been reported. The aim of our study was to characterize the impact on the colonization pattern in neonatal BALB/cOlaHsd mice after supplementing an infant formula (IF) with a mixture of putrescine (PUT), spermidine (SPD) and spermine (SPM). A total of 48 pups (14 days old) were randomly assigned to 4-day intervention groups as follows: breast-fed (unweaned) pups (n=12); weaned pups (n=12) fed an infant formula (IF); weaned pups (n=12) fed an IF enriched with a low concentration of PUT, SPD and SPM (2.10, 22.05 and 38.00 µg/day, respectively); and weaned pups (n=12) fed with IF enriched with a high concentration of PUT, SPD and SPM (8.40, 88.20 and 152.00 µg/day, respectively) of polyamines in accordance with normal proportions found in human milk. Microbiota composition was analyzed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with flow cytometry detection. Microbiota changes in formula-fed mice were significantly greater following supplementation with polyamines (P<.01). Bifidobacterium group bacteria, Akkermansia-like bacteria and Lactobacillus-Enterococcus group levels were higher in the groups fed infant formula supplemented with polyamines, resulting in even higher numbers of bacteria than in the breastfed pups. Our findings indicate that infant formulas enriched with polyamines may interact with gut microbiota, suggesting that further studies in human infants are required to assess the impact of polyamines on both growth and microbiota levels.

Interplay between weight loss and gut microbiota composition in overweight adolescents.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of an obesity treatment program on the gut microbiota and body weight of overweight adolescents. Thirty-six adolescents (13-15 years), classified as overweight according to the International Obesity Task Force BMI criteria, were submitted to a calorie-restricted diet (10-40%) and increased physical activity (15-23 kcal/kg body weight/week) program over 10 weeks. Gut bacterial groups were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR before and after the intervention. A group of subjects (n=23) experienced >4.0 kg weight loss and showed significant BMI (P=0.030) and BMI z-score (P=0.035) reductions after the intervention, while the other group (n=13) showed <2.0 kg weight loss. No significant differences in dietary intake were found between both groups. In the whole adolescent population, the intervention led to increased Bacteroides fragilis group (P=0.001) and Lactobacillus group (P=0.030) counts, and to decreased Clostridium coccoides group (P=0.028), Bifidobacterium longum (P=0.031), and Bifidobacterium adolescentis (P=0.044) counts. In the high weight-loss group, B. fragilis group and Lactobacillus group counts also increased (P=0.001 and P=0.007, respectively), whereas C. coccoides group and B. longum counts decreased (P=0.001 and P=0.044, respectively) after the intervention. Total bacteria, B. fragilis group and Clostridium leptum group, and Bifidobacterium catenulatum group counts were significantly higher (P<0.001-0.036) while levels of C. coccoides group, Lactobacillus group, Bifidobacterium, Bifidobacterium breve, and Bifidobacterium bifidum were significantly lower (P<0.001-0.008) in the high weight-loss group than in the low weight-loss group before and after the intervention. These findings indicate that calorie restriction and physical activity have an impact on gut microbiota composition related to body weight loss, which also seem to be influenced by the individual's microbiota.