Potential Pathogenic and Opportunistic Oral Bacteria in Early Life: The Role of Maternal Factors in a Portuguese Population

Mariana Fernandes, Maria João Azevedo, Carla Campos, Ana Filipa Ferreira, Álvaro Azevedo, Inês Falcão-Pires, Egija Zaura, Carla Ramalho, Joana Campos, Benedita Sampaio-Maia*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In early life, maternal factors are of the utmost relevance for oral microbiome acquisition and maturation. Therefore, our study explored the impact of maternal factors, such as saliva and breastmilk colonization, cardiovascular risk factors (CRF), type of delivery, oral health, and caregiving habits on the prevalence of potential pathogenic and opportunistic oral bacteria in early life. A total of 26 healthy mothers, 23 mothers with CRF, and their 50 children were included and samples (child’s oral swabs, mother’s saliva, and breastmilk) were collected 4 to 12 weeks after delivery and inoculated in selective and differential media for detection of non-fastidious Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria to isolate potential pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria identified by MALDI-TOF MS (414 isolates). Within mother–child dyads, the same species were identified in 86% of the pairs and potential pathogenic microorganisms from the Staphylococcaceae and Enterobacteriaceae families were found to be statistically significantly concordant between mother–child samples, particularly in the healthy group. Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia oral colonization in mother–child pairs were associated with the presence of CRF. Breastfeeding was related to the early life oral colonization of Staphylococcus epidermidis in children from healthy mothers and C-section was associated with higher diversity of pathogens, independent of cardiovascular status (p = 0.05). This study reveals the presence of potential oral opportunistic and pathogenic bacteria in early life and highlights the importance of maternal factors in its acquisition.

Original languageEnglish
Article number80
Pages (from-to)1-13
Number of pages13
JournalPathogens
Volume12
Issue number1
Early online date3 Jan 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunistic Oral Pathogens in Oral and Systemic Diseases.

Funding Information:
This research was funded by BIOCODEX (Biocodex National Call 2021—Portugal) and by a Research Grant 2021 from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) to M.J.A. M.J.A.’s PhD fellowship was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT) scholarship (SFRH/BD/144982/2019). A.F.F.’s PhD fellowship was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT) scholarship (SFRH/BD/138925/2018). J.C.’s postdoctoral research contract was funded by FEDER (Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional) funds through the COMPETE 2020—POCI (Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization) Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT/MCTES in the framework of the project MicroMOB (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029777/PTDC/MEC-MCI/29777/2017).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Funding

This research was funded by BIOCODEX (Biocodex National Call 2021—Portugal) and by a Research Grant 2021 from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) to M.J.A. M.J.A.’s PhD fellowship was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT) scholarship (SFRH/BD/144982/2019). A.F.F.’s PhD fellowship was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT) scholarship (SFRH/BD/138925/2018). J.C.’s postdoctoral research contract was funded by FEDER (Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional) funds through the COMPETE 2020—POCI (Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization) Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT/MCTES in the framework of the project MicroMOB (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029777/PTDC/MEC-MCI/29777/2017).

FundersFunder number
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior
European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Fundação para a Ciência e a TecnologiaSFRH/BD/144982/2019, SFRH/BD/138925/2018
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino SuperiorPOCI-01-0145-FEDER-029777/PTDC/MEC-MCI/29777/2017
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior
European Regional Development Fund
Programa Operacional Temático Factores de Competitividade

    Keywords

    • cardiovascular risk
    • maternal oral health
    • mother–child microbiome transmission
    • opportunistic/pathogenic bacteria
    • oral microbiome

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