The microbiota composition of the offspring of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 16;14(12):e0226545. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226545. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The microbiota composition of the offspring of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a common pregnancy complication, is still little known. We investigated whether the GDM offspring gut microbiota composition is associated with the maternal nutritional habits, metabolic variables or pregnancy outcomes. Furthermore, we compared the GDM offspring microbiota to the microbiota of normoglycemic-mother offspring. Fecal samples of 29 GDM infants were collected during the first week of life and assessed by 16S amplicon-based sequencing. The offspring's microbiota showed significantly lower α-diversity than the corresponding mothers. Earlier maternal nutritional habits were more strongly associated with the offspring microbiota (maternal oligosaccharide positively with infant Ruminococcus, maternal saturated fat intake inversely with infant Rikenellaceae and Ruminococcus) than last-trimester maternal habits. Principal coordinate analysis showed a separation of the infant microbiota according to the type of feeding (breastfeeding vs formula-feeding), displaying in breast-fed infants a higher abundance of Bifidobacterium. A few Bacteroides and Blautia oligotypes were shared by the GDM mothers and their offspring, suggesting a maternal microbial imprinting. Finally, GDM infants showed higher relative abundance of pro-inflammatory taxa than infants from healthy women. In conclusion, many maternal conditions impact on the microbiota composition of GDM offspring whose microbiota showed increased abundance of pro-inflammatory taxa.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Breast Feeding
  • Child of Impaired Parents*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Diabetes, Gestational*
  • Diet Records
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Female
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Pregnancy
  • Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / microbiology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education, University and Research of Italy (ex-60% 2017). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.