RESUMEN
Objective:To explore the effect of breast feeding versus mixed feeding on fecal metabolites of infants delivered by cesarean section.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study.Fecal samples were collected from 23 healthy 1-month-old infants delivered by cesarean section from autumn 2021 and winter 2022 in two maternal and infant care facilities in the North and South of Xi′an city.The samples were divided into the breast feeding group (11 cases) and mixed feeding group (12 cases). Fecal metabolites were analyzed by the non-targeted metabolomic approach and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupling, and differentially expressed fecal metabolites between groups were screened using the non-parametric Mann- Whitney U test.Metabolic pathways enriched in them were further analyzed. Results:A total of 155 metabolites were characterized, including 57 sugars and sugar derivatives, 34 fatty acids, 25 organic acids, 22 amino acids, 8 esters, 4 nucleosides, 3 vitamins and 2 other substances.The relative contents of the differentially expressed fecal metabolites were measured, and it was found that some types of sugars and sugar derivatives were highly expressed in the fecal samples of breast feeding group, while amino acids, organic acids and fatty acids were highly expressed in those of the mixed feeding group.A total of 28 metabolic pathways enriched in differentially expressed fecal metabolites were obtained.Among them, alanine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine metabolism, arginine metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle influenced infant health.Conclusions:Feeding methods have an effect on the fecal metabolites in infants delivered by cesarean section born infants, and mixed feeding may speed up the process of TCA cycle and amino acid metabolism in the intestine of infants delivered by cesarean section to a certain extent.