Study on the correlation between gut microbiota changes and global developmental delay in premature infants via 16S rDNA sequencing

MIAO Dan; TAN Lin; ZHANG Mei; KUANG Xiaoni; CHEN Tao; ZHOU Dai; CHEN Xiangyu; MA Qi

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Journal of Hunan Normal University(Medical Science) ›› 2025, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (4) : 40-47.

Study on the correlation between gut microbiota changes and global developmental delay in premature infants via 16S rDNA sequencing

MIAO Dan, TAN Lin, ZHANG Mei, KUANG Xiaoni, CHEN Tao, ZHOU Dai, CHEN Xiangyu, MA Qi

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Abstract

Objective To investigate changes in the gut microbiota of preterm infants with Global Developmental Delay (GDD) using 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing technology and explore the correlation between gut microbiota and GDD in preterm infants. Methods A total of 57 preterm infants with a gestational age of 32-36 weeks were enrolled, including 23 GDD infants (experimental group) and 34 non-GDD infants (control group). Fresh stool specimens were collected from all participants.16S rDNA sequencing was performed to analyze gut microbiota composition, followed by bioinformatics analysis to compare differences between the two groups. Results Differences were observed in the community structure, species abundance, and metabolic pathways of gut microbiota between the two groups. At the phylum level, Euryarchaeota was exclusively detected in the experimental group (0.023%, P<0.05). After corrected by False Discovery Rate (FDR), Q value was 0.42. Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) revealed a higher abundance of the genus Dysgonomonas in GDD infants. Functional changes were identified in multiple pathways within MetaCyc modules, CAZY modules, GMM metabolic modules, and GBM neurotransmitter modules in the experimental group. Conclusion Compared to non-GDD preterm infants, GDD preterm infants exhibit gut microbiota dysbiosis, characterized by increased relative abundances of Euryarchaeota and Dysgonomonas, which may contribute to altered metabolic pathways and gut-brain axis function. However, currently, the alterations in gut microbiota of GDD preterm infants remain inconclusive, warranting further in-depth research.

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premature infants / gut microbiota / delayed development / 16S rDNA sequencing

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MIAO Dan, TAN Lin, ZHANG Mei, KUANG Xiaoni, CHEN Tao, ZHOU Dai, CHEN Xiangyu, MA Qi. Study on the correlation between gut microbiota changes and global developmental delay in premature infants via 16S rDNA sequencing[J]. Journal of Hunan Normal University(Medical Science). 2025, 22(4): 40-47

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