Antibiotics usage in infancy could impact adult gut health, says new study

Researchers find that antibiotics given to neonatal mice have these long-lasting effects which result in disturbed gastrointestinal function, including the speed of motility through the gut, and diarrhoea-like symptoms in adulthood.

What the study found

The research team gave mice an oral dose of vancomycin (used to treat inflammation of the intestine caused by certain bacteria) every day for the first 10 days of their lives.

They were then reared normally until they were young adults, and their gut tissue was looked at to measure its structure, function, microbiota, and nervous system.

The investigators found that changes were also dependent on the sex of the mice. The females had long whole gut transit (food passes through the digestive system) and the males had lower faecal weight than the control group. Both males and females had greater faecal water content, which is a diarrhoea-like symptom.

Mice have many similarities to humans, but they are born with more immature guts than humans and have accelerated growth due to their shorter life spans.

Human systems more complex

Their gut microbiota and nervous systems are less complex than humans, so the findings cannot yet be directly associated with human children and infants.

The researchers will be doing further studies on the mechanisms of antibiotics on the gut and the causes of the sex-specific outcomes, and if early life antibiotic use has effects on metabolism and brain function.

“We are very excited about the findings of our study which show that antibiotics given after birth could have prolonged effects on the enteric nervous system. This provides further evidence of the importance of microbiota on gut health and could introduce new targets to advance antibiotic treatment to very young children,” said lead researcher Dr Jaime Foong in a statement.