Intestinal microbiota development in the first week of life of preterm newborns

TL;DR

This study examines how the gut microbiota of preterm newborns changes during their first week of life in a Brazilian hospital.

Contribution

The study provides insights into the early development of gut microbiota in preterm infants in a specific geographic and clinical context.

Findings

The gut microbiota of preterm newborns showed dynamic changes with low diversity during the first week of life.

Certain bacterial genera like Enterobacterales and Bifidobacterium were more prevalent in fasting/meconium samples compared to day-7 samples.

Staphylococcus was a dominant genus at both sampling times.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the intestinal microbiota development in the first week of life of preterm newborns (PTNB) treated at a public hospital in a municipality in the Brazilian Northeast.

This is an observational, longitudinal, and descriptive study with 23 PTNBs. Two stool samples were collected from each neonate (fasting/meconium and seventh day of life) for stool microbiota analysis by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The authors analyzed alpha diversity (Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson indices) and principal coordinates of beta diversity.

Forty-six stool samples from 23 PTNBs were analyzed at the taxonomic level. Microbiota's development was dynamic with low diversity. The authors observed a statistical association with the genera Enterobacterales, Streptococcus, Bacteroides, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Enterococcus, and Bifidobacterium in the fasting samples when compared to the day-7 samples. The genus Staphylococcus also dominated at both times.

Dynamics were observed in the intestinal microbiota development, with an alpha diversity decrease in the stool samples collected at fasting/meconium and on the seventh day of life.

Figures