ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Previous literature have shown a diversity of findings regarding the relationship between the maternal gut microbiota and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We investigated the gut microbiota of overweight and obese women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) against matched euglycaemic women at 16 and 28-weeks' gestation. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study included women from the SPRING (Study of PRobiotics IN Gestational diabetes) cohort. Overweight and obese women with no impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasted glucose were enrolled prior to gestational age <16 weeks. Participants with a diagnosis of GDM (n = 29) were matched with euglycaemic (n = 29) women for body mass index, probiotic or placebo intervention, maternal age, parity and ethnicity. Anthropometric, clinical and fecal microbiota (16S rRNA amplicon-based sequencing of V6-V8 region) data was assessed at 16 and 28-weeks' gestation. The relative abundances of key bacterial genera were not significantly altered between euglycaemic women and women with GDM. Occurrence of bacterial taxa was similar between groups at both timepoints. GDM was associated with decreased Shannon diversity (p = 0.02) without differentiated clustering measured by beta diversity at 28-weeks' gestation. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obese women with GDM demonstrate minor variation in the gut microbiota at 16 and 28-weeks' gestation compared with matched euglycaemic women. This study expands on previous literature concluding the microbiota does not likely have a disease-specific characterisation in GDM.
Subject(s)
Bacteria/growth & development , Diabetes, Gestational/microbiology , Dysbiosis , Gastrointestinal Microbiome , Gastrointestinal Tract/microbiology , Obesity/microbiology , Adult , Bacteria/genetics , Biomarkers/blood , Diabetes, Gestational/blood , Diabetes, Gestational/diagnosis , Feces/microbiology , Female , Gestational Age , Humans , Obesity/blood , Obesity/diagnosis , Pregnancy , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic , RibotypingABSTRACT
Pregnancy alters the inflammatory state, metabolic hormones, and gut microbiota composition. It is unclear if the lower abundance of dietary fiber-fermenting, short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria observed in hypertension also occurs in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). This study investigated the relationship between dietary fiber intake and the gut microbiota profile at 28 weeks gestation in women who developed HDP in late pregnancy (n = 22) or remained normotensive (n = 152) from the Study of PRobiotics IN Gestational diabetes (SPRING). Dietary fiber intake was classified as above or below the median of 18.2 g/day. Gut microbiota composition was examined using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The gut permeability marker zonulin was measured in a subset of 46 samples. In women with future HPD, higher dietary fiber intake was specifically associated with increased abundance of Veillonella, lower abundance of Adlercreutzia, Anaerotruncus and Uncl. Mogibacteriaceae and higher zonulin levels than normotensive women. Fiber intake and zonulin levels were negatively correlated in women with normotensive pregnancies but not in pregnancies with future HDP. In women with normotensive pregnancies, dietary fiber intake may improve gut barrier function. In contrast, in women who develop HDP, gut wall barrier function is impaired and not related to dietary fiber intake.
