Journal of Clinical Pediatrics ›› 2024, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 305-310.doi: 10.12372/jcp.2024.23e0806

• Original Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of gestational diabetes mellitus on gut microbiota of 12-week-old breastfed infants

ZHAO Yongli1, DUAN Yifan2, NIU Bei1, ZHANG Cui1, CHEN Lei1, YONG Mingyuan1, LIU Changqing1()   

  1. 1. Hebei Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shijiazhang 050021, Hebei, China
    2. National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China
  • Received:2023-08-23 Online:2024-04-15 Published:2024-04-09

Abstract:

Objective To compare the distribution of gut microbiota in continuously breastfed 12 week-old infants whose mothers were diagnosed with and without gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and to further explore the effect of GDM on the gut microbiota of those infants. Methods The mothers enrolled between June 2016 and December 2019 and their breastfed infants who were followed up to 12 weeks of age were selected. The breastfed infants were divided into the GDM group (n=13) and the control group (n=27) according to the results of maternal blood glucose detection during pregnancy. Fecal samples were collected from infants at 12 weeks of age, and 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing technology was used to detect all fecal samples, and gut microbiota distribution characteristics of the two groups were compared. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between gut microbiota and blood glucose during pregnancy as well as infant weight. Results A total of 40 pairs of subjects were included, including 13 pairs in the GDM group and 27 pairs in the control group. The gut microbiota in the 2 groups consisted mainly of 3 phyla (Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria). The relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia in the GDM group was significantly higher than that in the control group (Z=2.233, P<0.05). At the genus level, the dominant genus in the GDM group came from Actinobacteria and Firmicutes, while in the control group came from Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. LEfSe analysis showed that the abundance of Verrucomicrobia, Akkermansia, Lawsonella and Eubacterium hallii were significantly increased in the GDM group, while the abundance of Bacillales, Gemella and Erysipelatoclostridium were significantly increased in the control group (LDA>2). The phylum-level abundance of gut microbiota was not correlated with blood glucose during pregnancy and infant weight at 12 weeks of age (P>0.05). Conclusions GDM during pregnancy had a certain effect on the gut microbiota composition of 12-week-old infants who were continuously breastfed.

Key words: gestational diabetes mellitus, breastfeeding, gut microbiota, 16S rDNA, high-throughput sequencing