Antibiotic Use in Early Life Increases Risk of Inflammatory Gut Diseases

The early signals from our gut bacteria shape key immune cells and the susceptibility to inflammatory diseases.

Highlights

Previous reports have shown a correlation between early-life antibiotic treatment and an increased incidence of inflammatory bowel disease.
Altering gut flora may be a //viable treatment strategy for some inflammatory diseases.
The early signals from our gut bacteria shape key immune cells and the susceptibility to inflammatory diseases.

Antibiotic use very early in life that alters the normal development/growth of gut bacteria, may contribute to the development of inflammatory bowel disease.

A new study adds more evidence to suggest that altering gut flora may be a viable treatment strategy for some inflammatory diseases.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Inflammatory bowel disease involves chronic inflammation of the colon and small intestine. Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss.

‘CD4+ T immune cells were isolated from adult mice that had been treated with antibiotics during gestation and in early life induced a faster onset of inflammatory bowel disease.’

"Our study demonstrates that gut bacteria in early life do affect disease development in adulthood, but this response can be changed," said Colby Zaph, Head, Laboratory of Mucosal Immunity and Inflammation, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences at Monash University, Australia.

"This has important ramifications for the use of pre- and probiotics, the administration of antibiotics to neonates, and our understanding of how gut bacteria play a critical role in influencing the development of inflammatory diseases such as IBD."

In this study, Zaph and colleagues used two groups of mice. The first group included pregnant females treated with broad spectrum antibiotics during pregnancy and pups treated with broad spectrum antibiotics for the first 3 weeks of life. The second group was a control group that consisted of untreated pregnant mothers and pups.

Gut Microbiome in Synchrony With Symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
The gut microbiome of people with inflammatory bowel disease differs from that of healthy patients and is associated with symptoms of the disease.

The pups in the treated group were weaned at 3 weeks of age and antibiotic treatment was stopped at the same time. These pups had reduced levels of gut bacteria and were allowed to age normally. At 8 weeks of age, immune cells (CD4 T cells) from both the treated and untreated pups were examined for their ability to induce irritable bowel disease in other mice.

The immune cells from antibiotic-treated mice induced a more rapid and more severe disease than those from the untreated mice.

Probiotics - Support System for the Gut
Probiotics are live microorganisms that resemble the “good bacteria” in our gut. Science is yet to fully explore the healing potential of probiotics; meanwhile some studies have ruled in their favor.

"Our intestinal commensal bacteria are now understood to have a major role in shaping immune health and disease, but the details for this process remain poorly understood," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

"These new studies provide an important clue as to how the early signals from our gut bacteria shape key immune cells and how these neonatal events can shape disease potential later in life."

Health Benefits of Probiotic Yogurt Diet
Probiotic yogurt adds bountiful of beneficial bacteria to the intestinal tract which prove to be effective in aiding digestive problems.

Reference

Colby Zaph et al., Early-life antibiotic treatment enhances the pathogenicity of CD4+ T cells during intestinal inflammation, Journal of Leukocyte Biology (2017) http://www.jleukbio.org/content/101/4/893.

Source-Medindia