Importance of intestinal colonisation in the maturation of humoral immunity in early infancy: a prospective follow up study of healthy infants aged 0-6 months
Mm. Gronlund et al., Importance of intestinal colonisation in the maturation of humoral immunity in early infancy: a prospective follow up study of healthy infants aged 0-6 months, ARCH DIS CH, 83(3), 2000, pp. F186-F192
Aim-To evaluate the role of intestinal microflora and early formula feeding
in the maturation of humoral immunity in healthy newborn infants.
Study design-Sixty four healthy infants were studied. Faecal colonisation w
ith Bacteroides fragilis group, Bifidobacterium-like, and Lactobacillus-lik
e bacteria was examined at 1, 2, and 6 months of age, and also the number o
f IgA-secreting, IgM-secreting, and IgG-secreting cells (detected by ELISPO
T) at 0, 2, and 6 months of age.
Results-Intestinal colonisation with bacteria from the B fragilis group was
more closely associated with maturation of IgA-secreting and IgM-secreting
cells than colonisation with the other bacterial genera studied or diet. I
nfants colonised with B fragilis at 1 month of age had more IgA-secreting a
nd IgM-secreting cells/10(6) mononuclear cells at 2 months of age (geometri
c mean (95% confidence interval) 1393 (962 to 2018) and 754 (427 to 1332) r
espectively) than infants not colonised (1015 (826 to 1247) and 394 (304 to
511) respectively); p = 0.04 and p = 0.009 respectively.
Conclusions-The type of bacteria colonising the intestine of newborns and t
he timing may determine the immunomodulation of the naive immune system.