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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1508217
This article is part of the Research Topic Antimicrobial Resistance: Causes, Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies for Gut Dysbiosis View all 3 articles

Effects of Antibiotic Therapy on the Early Development of Gut Microbiota and Butyrate-producers in Early Infants

Provisionally accepted
Jun Qiu Jun Qiu 1*Sha Wu Sha Wu 2Ruiwen Huang Ruiwen Huang 1Zhenyu Liao Zhenyu Liao 1Xiongfeng Pan Xiongfeng Pan 1Kunyan Zhao Kunyan Zhao 2Yunlong Peng Yunlong Peng 3Shiting Xiang Shiting Xiang 1Yunhui Cao Yunhui Cao 2Ye Ma Ye Ma 1Zhenghui Xiao Zhenghui Xiao 1
  • 1 Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, China
  • 2 University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
  • 3 Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Soochow University Medical College, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Antibiotics, as the most commonly prescribed class of drugs in neonatal intensive care units, have an important impact on the developing neonatal gut microbiota. Therefore, comprehending the effects of commonly used antibiotic therapy on the gut microbiota and butyrate-producers in early infants could provide information for therapeutic decision-making in the NICU.Objectives: To explore the effects of antibiotic therapy on the early development of gut microbiota and butyrate-producers in early infants.2 Methods: A total of 72 infants were included in the study. We performed 16S rRNA sequencing on stool swab samples collected from neonatal intensive care unit patients who received amoxicillin-clavulanic acid(AC, n=10), moxalactam (ML, n=28) and non-antibiotics (NA, n=34). We then compared the taxonomic composition between treatment regimens, focusing on differences in butyrate-producers.Results: Our study showed that there were significant differences in Shannon index (P =0.033) and Beta diversity (P=0.014) among the three groups. At the family level, compared with the other two groups, the relative abundance of Clostridiaceae (P<0.001) and Veillonellaceae (P=0.004) were significantly higher, while the relative abundance of Enterococcidae (P<0.001) was significantly lower in the NA group. The relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae (P=0.022) in the AC group was greater than that in the other two groups. Additionally, butyrate-producers (P<0.001), especially Clostridiaceae (P<0.001), were noticeably more abundant in the NA group. The relative abundance of Clostridiaceae and butyrate-producers were the lowest in the ML group (P<0.001).We found that antibiotic therapy had an adverse impact on the initial development of gut microbiota and leaded to a reduction in the abundance of butyrate-producers, particularly Clostridiaceae. Furthermore, moxalactam had a more pronounced effect on the gut microbiota compared to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid.

    Keywords: Gut Microbiota, antibiotics, Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, Moxalactam, butyrate-producers

    Received: 10 Oct 2024; Accepted: 09 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Qiu, Wu, Huang, Liao, Pan, Zhao, Peng, Xiang, Cao, Ma and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jun Qiu, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.