Early Childhood Establishment of Gut Microbiota.pdfVIP

PEDIATRICS REVIEW ARTICLE published: 09 October 2014 doi: 10.3389/fped.2014.00109 External influence of early childhood establishment of gut microbiota and subsequent health implications Peris Mumbi Munyaka1,2, Ehsan Khafipour 2,3 and Jean-Eric Ghia1,4* 1 Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Immunology and Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada 2 Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada 3 Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada 4 Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical and Research Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada Edited by: Martin Gerbert Frasch, Université de Montréal, Canada Reviewed by: Alain Stintzi, Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology, Canada Joern-Hendrik Weitkamp, Vanderbilt University, USA *Correspondence: Jean-Eric Ghia, University of Manitoba, 750 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3N 0T5, Canada e-mail: jeghia@med.umanitoba.ca, jeghia@yahoo.fr Postnatal maturation of immune regulation is largely driven by exposure to microbes. The gastrointestinal tract is the largest source of microbial exposure, as the human gut micro- biome contains up to 1014 bacteria, which is 10 times the number of cells in the human body. Several studies in recent years have shown differences in the composition of the gut microbiota in children who are exposed to different conditions before, during, and early after birth. A number of maternal factors are responsible for the establishment and colonization of gut microbiota in infants, such as the conditions surrounding the prenatal period, time and mode of delivery, diet, mother’s age, BMI, smoking status, household milieu, socioe- conomic status, breastfeeding and antibiotic use, as well as other environmental factors that have profound effects on the microbiota and on immunoregul