Supplementing maternal diet with milk oligosaccharides and probiotics helps develop the immune system and intestinal flora of offsprings

Abstract

Intestinal flora is very important for improving the development of the immune system in newborns. Maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation is one of the key factors affecting the growth and development of offspring. The objective of the present study was to examine whether supplementation of maternal diet with milk oligosaccharides and Bifidobacterium could influence the development of the intestinal flora and immune system of neonatal mice. In total, 30 pregnant Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were randomly divided into six groups: a control group (basal diet) and five intervention groups (basal diet supplemented with different doses of 2′‐fucosyllactose [2′‐FL] and Bifidobacterium Bb12) during the pregnancy period. All female mice were monitored for physical health during gavage. After delivery, the number of mice in each litter, any deformity, and the development of the offspring were recorded. The spleen, blood, and fecal samples of six groups of 10–12 day‐old offspring were collected. The results demonstrated that maternal milk oligosaccharides and probiotics conferred protective effects against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced immunosuppression in mice offspring by significantly enhancing the immune organ indexes, splenocyte proliferation, immunoglobulin (immunoglobulin G, A, M) production as well as improving the macrophage phagocytosis (p < .05). The abundance of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria in the feces of offspring mice in the intervention groups was significantly higher than that of the offspring mice in the control group (p < .05). These findings suggest that the combination of 2′‐FL and Bifidobacterium Bb12 displayed synergistic interactions between the two components that could promote the development of the immune system of the offsprings and improve their microbiota through maternal ingestion.

Gut Microbiota and Other Factors Associated With Increased Regulatory T Cells in Hiv-exposed Uninfected Infants

“…This nding is in agreement with previous studies showing that the maternal gut microbiome plays an important role in the development of the infant immune system [46-48]. For example, Tanabe et al showed an association between the maternal gut microbiome and cytokine levels in the cord blood [49] and several studies both in humans and animal models have reported profound effects of the maternal diet on the neonatal immune system mediated by the maternal gut microbiome [46,50]. The communications between the maternal gut microbiome and the fetal immune system are likely to be assisted by bacterial metabolites that freely cross the placenta [49] and deserve to be further studied.…”