Effects of intergenerational transmission of small intestinal bacteria cultured from stunted Bangladeshi children with enteropathy.

ABSTRACT: Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), a small intestinal disorder found at a high prevalence in stunted children, is associated with gut mucosal barrier disruption and decreased absorptive capacity ^1-4. To test the hypothesis that intergenerational transmission of a perturbed small intestinal microbiota contributes to undernutrition by inducing EED ⁵, we characterized two consortia of bacterial strains cultured from duodenal aspirates from stunted Bangladeshi children with EED - one of which induced local and systemic inflammation in female gnotobiotic mice. Offspring of dams colonized with the inflammatory consortium exhibited impaired prenatal and postnatal growth, as well as immunologic changes phenocopying features of EED in children. Dam-to-pup transmission of

SUBMITTER: Pruss KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11566026 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature