Department of Community Health Systems, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
School of Health and Natural Sciences, Dominican University of California, San Rafael, CA, USA.
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2023 Dec;36(1):2214835. doi: 10.1080/14767058.2023.2214835.
Preliminary research suggests that maternal prenatal stress may alter the development of the fetal microbiome and resulting microbial composition after birth. However, the findings of existing studies are mixed and inconclusive. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess whether maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with the overall number and diversity of various microbial species in the infant gut microbiome or the abundance of specific bacterial taxa.
Fifty-one women were recruited during their third trimester of pregnancy. The women completed a demographic questionnaire and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale at recruitment. A stool sample was collected from their neonate at one month of age. Data on potential confounders, such as gestational age and mode of delivery, were extracted from medical records to control for their effects. 16s rRNA gene sequencing was used to identify the diversity and abundance of microbial species, along with multiple linear regression models to examine the effects of prenatal stress on microbial diversity. We employed negative binomial generalized linear models to test for differential expression of various microbial taxa among infants exposed to prenatal stress and those not exposed to prenatal stress.
More severe symptoms of prenatal stress were associated with a greater diversity of microbial species in the gut microbiome of neonates (β = .30, = .025). Certain microbial taxa, such as and were enriched among infants exposed to greater maternal stress in utero, while others, such as and , were depleted in contrast to infants exposed to less stress.
Findings suggest that mild to moderate stress exposure in utero could be associated with a microbial environment in early life that is more optimally prepared to thrive in a stressful postnatal environment. Adaptation of gut microbiota under conditions of stress may involve upregulation of bacterial species, including certain protective microorganisms (e.g. ), as well as downregulation of potential pathogens (e.g. ) epigenetic or other processes within the fetal/neonatal gut-brain axis. However, further research is needed to understand the trajectory of microbial diversity and composition as infant development proceeds and the ways in which both the structure and function of the neonatal microbiome may mediate the relationship between prenatal stress and health outcomes over time. These studies may eventually yield microbial markers and gene pathways that are biosignatures of risk or resilience and inform targets for probiotics or other therapies in utero or during the postnatal period.
初步研究表明，孕妇产前压力可能会改变胎儿微生物组的发育，并导致出生后微生物组成的变化。然而，现有研究的结果喜忧参半，尚无定论。本探索性研究旨在评估孕妇在怀孕期间的压力是否与婴儿肠道微生物组中各种微生物物种的总数和多样性或特定细菌分类群的丰度有关。
在妊娠晚期招募了 51 名女性。这些女性在招募时完成了一份人口统计学问卷和科恩的感知压力量表。在新生儿一个月大时从他们那里采集粪便样本。从病历中提取潜在混杂因素（如胎龄和分娩方式）的数据，以控制其影响。使用 16s rRNA 基因测序来识别微生物物种的多样性和丰度，并采用多元线性回归模型来检验产前压力对微生物多样性的影响。我们采用负二项广义线性模型来检验暴露于产前压力和未暴露于产前压力的婴儿之间各种微生物分类群的差异表达。
产前压力的症状越严重，新生儿肠道微生物组中的微生物物种多样性越大（β=0.30，P=0.025）。某些微生物分类群，如 和 ，在子宫内暴露于更大母亲压力的婴儿中富集，而其他分类群，如 和 ，则在与暴露于较小压力的婴儿相比时被耗尽。
研究结果表明，子宫内轻度至中度应激暴露可能与生命早期的微生物环境相关，这种环境更能适应充满压力的产后环境。在应激条件下，肠道微生物组的适应可能涉及包括某些保护性微生物（如 ）在内的细菌物种的上调，以及潜在病原体（如 ）的下调。在胎儿/新生儿肠道-大脑轴内的表观遗传或其他过程。然而，需要进一步的研究来了解微生物多样性和组成的发展轨迹，以及新生儿微生物组的结构和功能如何随着时间的推移调节产前压力与健康结果之间的关系。这些研究最终可能产生微生物标志物和基因途径，这些标志物和基因途径是风险或恢复力的生物标志物，并为宫内或产后的益生菌或其他治疗提供目标。
