Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Microbiota and chronic lung disease in preterm infants. Where is the truth?

Journal of Perinatology volume 40, pages 983–984 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Chronic lung disease (CLD) is a significant health burden in the neonatal population. The development of CLD in extremely premature babies is attributed to the alteration in pulmonary alveolar and vasculature development, and is characterized by inflammation, alveolar oversimplification, and pulmonary hypertension [1].

The airway “earlier thought to be sterile” is now known to harbor an array of microbial communities. The term microbiota includes viruses, bacteria, archaea, and fungi that exist in the host. Perinatal maturity of initial life microbiota influences immunological, neural, and physiological development, and overall health of the infant [2]. The gut and the respiratory tracts have the same embryonic origins. The colonization of the bacteria is sensed by the mucosal cells, and this interaction plays a role in developing local and systemic immunity. The disturbance of the normal composition of microbiota is called as dysbiosis. The dysbiosis of the lung microbiome may be associated with certain diseases of the lung, and this area requires deeper exploration.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Pammi M, Lal CV, Wagner BD, Mourani PM, Lohmann P, Luna RA, et al. Airway microbiome and development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants: a systematic review. J Pediatr. 2019;204:126–33.e2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Grier A, McDavid A, Wang B, Qiu X, Java J, Bandyopadhyay S, et al. Neonatal gut and respiratory microbiota: coordinated development through time and space. Microbiome. 2018;6:193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dunn AB, Jordan S, Baker BJ, Carlson NS. The maternal infant microbiome: considerations for labor and birth. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs. 2017;42:318–25.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. O’Dwyer DN, Dickson RP, Moore BB. The lung microbiome, immunity, and the pathogenesis of chronic lung disease. J Immunol. 2016;196:4839–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cacho NT, Harrison NA, Parker LA, Padgett KA, Lemas DJ, Marcial GE, et al. Personalization of the microbiota of donor human milk with mother’s own milk. Front Microbiol. 2017;8:1470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kim LY, McGrath-Morrow SA, Collaco JM. Impact of breast milk on respiratory outcomes in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2019;54:313–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Brewer MR, Maffei D, Cerise J, Ahn S, DeVoti J, Codipilly C, et al. Determinants of the lung microbiome in intubated premature infants at risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2019;1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767058.2019.1681961. [Epub ahead of print].

  8. Contoli M, Pauletti A, Rossi MR, Spanevello A, Casolari P, Marcellini A, et al. Long-term effects of inhaled corticosteroids on sputum bacterial and viral loads in COPD. Eur Respir J. 2017;50:1700451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chen CM, Chang CH, Chao CH, Wang MH, Yeh TF. Biophysical and chemical stability of surfactant/budesonide and the pulmonary distribution following intra-tracheal administration. Drug Deliv. 2019;26:604–11.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fan QL, Yu XM, Liu QX, Yang W, Chang Q, Zhang YP. Synbiotics for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia: a probiotics strain-specific network meta-analysis. J Int Med Res. 2019;47:5349–74.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neonatology, Cleveland Clinic Children’s, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Vanishree Nandakumar & Hany Aly

Authors
  1. Vanishree Nandakumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hany Aly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hany Aly.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nandakumar, V., Aly, H. Microbiota and chronic lung disease in preterm infants. Where is the truth?. J Perinatol 40, 983–984 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-0666-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-0666-5

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links