Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 8033, EH Wageningen, 6700 Netherlands.
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Gut Microbes. 2022 Jan-Dec;14(1):2038853. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2022.2038853.
Increasing evidence indicates that psychopathological disorders are associated with the gut microbiota. However, data are largely lacking from long-term longitudinal birth cohorts, especially those comprising low-risk healthy individuals. Therefore, this study aims to describe gut microbiota development in healthy children from birth till age 10 years, as well as to investigate potential associations with internalizing and externalizing behavior.
Fecal microbial composition of participants in an ongoing longitudinal study ( = 193) was analyzed at 1, 3 and 4 months, and 6 and 10 years of age by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Based on these data, three clusters were identified in infancy, two of which were predominated by . In childhood, four clusters were observed, two of which increased in prevalence with age. One of the childhood clusters, similar to an enterotype, was highly enriched in genus-level taxon _9. Breastfeeding had marked associations with microbiota composition up till age 10, implying an extended role in shaping gut microbial ecology. Microbial clusters were not associated with behavior. However, _9 in childhood was positively related to mother-reported externalizing behavior at age 10; this was validated in child reports.
This study validated previous findings on -enriched and -depleted clusters in infancy. Importantly, it also mapped continued development of gut microbiota in middle childhood. Novel associations between gut microbial composition in the first 10 years of life (especially _9), and externalizing behavior at age 10 were found. Replications in other cohorts, as well as follow-up assessments, will help determine the significance of these findings.
越来越多的证据表明，精神病理学障碍与肠道微生物群有关。然而，从长期纵向出生队列中获得的数据在很大程度上仍然缺乏，特别是那些包含低风险健康个体的队列。因此，本研究旨在描述健康儿童从出生到 10 岁时的肠道微生物群发展情况，并调查其与内化和外化行为的潜在关联。
通过 16S 核糖体 RNA 基因测序，对一项正在进行的纵向研究中的参与者（n=193）的粪便微生物组成进行了分析，这些参与者在 1、3 和 4 个月以及 6 和 10 岁时接受了分析。基于这些数据，在婴儿期鉴定出了三个聚类，其中两个聚类主要由_菌属主导。在儿童期，观察到了四个聚类，其中两个聚类的流行度随着年龄的增长而增加。其中一个儿童期聚类与一种肠型相似，在属水平的分类群_9中高度富集。母乳喂养与 10 岁时的微生物组成有显著关联，这表明母乳喂养在塑造肠道微生物生态方面发挥了延伸作用。微生物聚类与行为无关。然而，儿童期的_9与母亲报告的 10 岁时的外化行为呈正相关；这在儿童报告中得到了验证。
本研究验证了先前在婴儿期发现的富含_菌属和缺乏_菌属聚类的研究结果。重要的是，它还描绘了肠道微生物群在儿童中期的持续发展。在生命的前 10 年中（特别是_9）肠道微生物组成与 10 岁时的外化行为之间发现了新的关联。在其他队列中的复制以及随访评估将有助于确定这些发现的意义。
