MOMMY-GDM

The maternal microbiome not only affects various neonatal outcomes and their early development externally but can also be directly seeded into infants' guts to influence their health internally. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), one of the most common gestational complications, increases the risk of infant complications, such as neurodevelopment disorders and obesity.

MOMMY - GDM aims to investigate how GDM impacts the trajectory development of maternal or neonatal microbiome and subsequently influences postnatal health.

Recently, we analyzed a large group of 264 mother-baby pairs. We compared between pairs of mother with and without GDM, the microbiome trajectory of mothers during pregnancy and infants during their first year of life.

We found that mothers with GDM had a different diversity and composition of gut bacteria during pregnancy. They had significantly lower richness and phylogenetic diversity in their gut microbiota.

In addition, for the first time, we confirmed that GDM affects the offspring’s microbiome until the first year of life after adjusting potential confounders. Our data also revealed a positive correlation between Clostridium species and a larger head circumference in male offspring at 12 months of age, while no such correlation was observed in female offspring. Head circumference has been recognized as a marker of neurodevelopment. Earlier studies have shown a link between accelerated head circumference growth in early life and later diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Our data thus suggested that male infants born to mothers with GDM may experience unique neurodevelopmental effects due to their exposure to an altered prenatal gut microbiome, which has the potential to influence neurological processes.

This study has been completed. Go to publication.