Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have different gut microbiota in late pregnancy compared to women without GDM. It remains unclear whether alterations of gut microbiota can be identified prior to the diagnosis of GDM. This study characterized dynamic changes of gut microbiota from the first trimester (T1) to the second trimester (T2) and evaluated their relationship with later development of GDM. Compared with the control group (n = 103), the GDM group (n = 31) exhibited distinct dynamics of gut microbiota, evidenced by taxonomic, functional, and structural shifts from T1 to T2. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) revealed that there were 10 taxa in T1 and 7 in T2 that differed in relative abundance between the GDM and control groups, including a consistent decrease in the levels of Coprococcus and Streptococcus in the GDM group. While the normoglycemic women exhibited substantial variations of gut microbiota from T1 to T2, their GDM-developing counterparts exhibited clearly reduced inter-time point shifts, as corroborated by the results of Wilcoxon signed-rank test and balance tree analysis. Moreover, cooccurrence network analysis revealed that the interbacterial interactions in the GDM group were minimal compared with those in the control group. In conclusion, lower numbers of dynamic changes in gut microbiota in the first half of pregnancy are associated with the development of GDM.
IMPORTANCE GDM is one of the most common metabolic disorders during pregnancy and is associated with adverse short-term and long-term maternal and fetal outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the connection between dynamic variations in gut microbiota and development of GDM. Whereas shifts in gut microbiota composition and function have been previously reported to be associated with GDM, very little is known regarding the early microbial changes that occur before the diagnosis of GDM. This study demonstrated that the dynamics in gut microbiota during the first half of pregnancy differed significantly between GDM and normoglycemic women. Our findings suggested that gut microbiota may potentially serve as an early biomarker for GDM.
Punicalagin, one of the main active compounds in pomegranate peel, has been reported to possess many properties, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, and immunosuppressive activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial effect of punicalagin against Staphylococcus aureus and possible mode of action. Growth inhibition activity was examined by the agar diffusion method. Then agar dilution method was adopted to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The effects of punicalagin on cell membrane were assessed by measuring potassium efflux. Morphological changes of S. aureus were assessed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Crystal violet assay was applied to investigate antibiofilm activity of punicalagin. Punicalagin exhibited good antistaphylococcal effect with an MIC of 0.25 mg/mL. An increase of potassium efflux was observed when cells were treated with punicalagin at 2 × MIC. Punicalagin induced morphological damages to the cell membrane. Moreover, punicalagin exerted a remarkable inhibitory effect on biofilm formation of S. aureus. These findings suggest that punicalagin has antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities against S. aureus and may have potential application to control S. aureus contamination in food industry.
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