Vogel Sarah C, Murgueitio Nicolas, Huth Nicole, Sem Kathy, Knickmeyer Rebecca C, Short Sarah J, Mills-Koonce Roger, Propper Cathi, Wagner Nicholas J
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Dev Psychopathol. 2025 Jun 5:1-13. doi: 10.1017/S0954579425100229.
The role of the gut microbiome in infant development has gained increasing interest in recent years. Most research on this topic has focused on the first three to four years of life because this is a critical period for developing gut-brain connections. Prior studies have identified associations between the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome in infancy and markers of temperament, including negative affect. However, the specific microbes affected, and the directionality of these associations have differed between studies, likely due to differences in the developmental period of focus and assessment approaches. In the current preregistered study, we examined connections between the gut microbiome, assessed at two time points in infancy (2 weeks and 18 months), and negative affect measured at 30 months of age in a longitudinal study of infants and their caregivers. We found that infants with higher gut microbiome diversity at 2 weeks showed more observed negative affect during a study visit at 30 months. We also found evidence for associations between specific genera of bacteria in infancy and negative affect. These results suggest associations between specific features of the gut microbiome and child behavior may differ based on timing of gut microbiome measurement.
近年来，肠道微生物群在婴儿发育中的作用越来越受到关注。关于这一主题的大多数研究都集中在生命的最初三到四年，因为这是建立肠道与大脑联系的关键时期。先前的研究已经确定了婴儿期肠道微生物群的组成和多样性与气质指标（包括消极情绪）之间的关联。然而，受影响的具体微生物以及这些关联的方向性在不同研究中有所不同，这可能是由于关注的发育阶段和评估方法存在差异。在当前这项预先注册的研究中，我们在一项针对婴儿及其照顾者的纵向研究中，考察了在婴儿期两个时间点（2周和18个月）评估的肠道微生物群与30个月大时测量的消极情绪之间的联系。我们发现，2周时肠道微生物群多样性较高的婴儿在30个月的一次研究访视中表现出更多的观察到的消极情绪。我们还发现了婴儿期特定细菌属与消极情绪之间存在关联的证据。这些结果表明，肠道微生物群的特定特征与儿童行为之间的关联可能因肠道微生物群测量的时间不同而有所差异。
