When pregnant mice were fed butyrate — a food supplement derived from intestinal bacteria — most of their pups survived after exposure to infection that induces fatal biliary atresia, according to new study.
However, when pregnant mice were fed butyrate — a food supplement derived from intestinal bacteria — most of their pups survived after exposure to infection that induces fatal biliary atresia. Co-authors of the new study, published Jan. 10, 2022, in Nature Communications, say this occurred because the mothers receiving the enhanced diet transferred a healthier mix of gut bacteria to their newborns, which in turn helped them resist the disease.
«Other studies have shown that the maternal transfer of the microbiome to the baby may change susceptibility of later-onset conditions such as allergies, obesity, even heart disease. Our study shows that this transfer also has implications for diseases that begin during the neonatal period, like biliary atresia,» says Jorge Bezerra, MD, Director, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children’s and senior author of the new study.
The difference in survival rates was striking. When newborn mice were exposed to a virus that is known to cause biliary atresia, about 60% of those born to mothers given butyrate survived, compared to only 20% of the mice born to mothers receiving typical food and water. Then, after further testing revealed which compound produced by the healthier mix of gut bacteria offered the strongest protection, the team improved the survival rate to as high as 83%.
That key compound turned out to be glutamine — also widely available as a food supplement. However, the team directly injected pups with glutamine after they were born rather than feeding glutamine to their mothers.
These different results from different approaches indicate that much more research is necessary before making any recommendations to human mothers about what they might do to reduce the risk of their children developing biliary atresia, Bezerra says.
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Materials provided by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.