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Oral colostrum priming shortens hospitalization without changing the immunomicrobial milieu

Journal of Perinatology volume 37, pages 36–41 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

Oral colostrum priming (OCP) after birth in preterm infants is associated with improved weight gain and modification of the oral immunomicrobial environment. We hypothesized that OCP would modify salivary immune peptides and the oral microbiota in preterm infants.

Study design:

We conducted a prospective, randomized clinical trial to determine the effects of OCP on salivary immune peptide representation in preterm infants (<32 weeks completed gestation at birth). Saliva samples were collected before and after OCP. Salivary immune peptide representation was determined via mass spectroscopy. Oral microbiota representation was determined via sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene.

Results:

Neonates who received OCP (n=48) had a 16-day reduction in the median length of hospitalization as compared with infants who did not receive OCP (n=51). No differences in salivary immune peptide sequence representation before OCP between groups were found. Longitudinal changes in peptides were detected (lysozyme C, immunoglobulin A, lactoferrin) but were limited to a single peptide difference (α-defensin 1) between primed and unprimed infants after OCP. We found no difference in microbial diversity between treatment groups at any time point, but diversity decreased significantly over time in both groups. OCP treatment marginally modified oral taxa with a decline in abundance of Streptococci in the OCP group at 30 days of life.

Conclusions:

OCP had neither an effect on the salivary peptides we examined nor on overall oral bacterial diversity and composition. Infants who received OCP had a reduced length of hospitalization and warrants further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the families who allowed their infants to participate in the study. We also acknowledge Dr Judy Aschner for her assistance with the study design, as well as Theresa Rogers and Amy Beller for their assistance with patient enrollment and sample collection. This support for this work was provided by the Thrasher Fund and NIH/NIGMS (GM106143 (to JLW)).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    J Romano-Keeler, J-H Weitkamp & S Meng

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, and Microbiome Core Facility, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    M A Azcarate-Peril

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    J C Slaughter

  4. Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA; The Mass Spectrometry Research Center, Vanderbilt University,

    W H McDonald

  5. The Mass Spectrometry Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    W H McDonald

  6. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    M S Latuga

  7. Departments of Pediatrics, Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    J L Wynn

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  1. J Romano-Keeler
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Correspondence to J L Wynn.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Perinatology website

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Romano-Keeler, J., Azcarate-Peril, M., Weitkamp, JH. et al. Oral colostrum priming shortens hospitalization without changing the immunomicrobial milieu. J Perinatol 37, 36–41 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2016.161

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