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JERUSALEM, April 17 (Xinhua) – Israeli researchers have discovered that intestinal bacteria can "detect" pregnancy and undergo modifications to promote baby's development, reported Wednesday Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in the center of Israel.
The researchers found that these bacteria "understand" the need to move on to the next generation to help babies break down the sugar in their bad milk.
Pregnancy accompanies alterations of the microbiome, a bacterium that lives inside and on the human body and is important for health and disease control.
Previous research has shown that during pregnancy, the microbiome is partially responsible for weight gain and essential inflammatory response. However, the mechanisms behind these changes were unknown until now.
In the Israeli study, researchers at BIU and Beilinson Hospital in central Israel discovered that the hormone progesterone regulates the microbial composition of the bacteria during pregnancy, thus helping the development of the baby.
The researchers found a dramatic change in the composition of bacteria towards the end of pregnancy, including an increase in the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, which is essential for infants.
These bacteria metabolize healthy bad milk sugars that are important for the growth of babies. Bacteria also contain probiotic abilities.
In addition, the absence of Bifidobacterium increase during pregnancy correlates with premature delivery.
A rapid increase of Bifidobacterium was also observed in mice and in vitro experiments, which led to the conclusion that these bacteria somehow detect and react to progesterone.
The researchers said that "the results provide new information to understand the relationship between hormones and intestinal bacteriology during pregnancy, but also for other conditions in which hormones are involved, such as progesterone supplementation. as a component of fertility treatments or treatment in postmenopausal women. "
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