The Early Intestinal Microbiota of Healthy Korean Newborns.
BACKGROUND
The microflora hypothesis may be the underlying explanation for the growth of inflammatory disease. In addition to many known affecting factors, knowing the gut microbiota of healthy newborns can help to understand the gut immunity and modulate it.


OBJECTIVE
This study examined the microbiota of healthy newborns from urban regions.


METHODS
We enrolled 128 full-term newborns, born at Seoul St. Mary and St. Paul hospital from January 2009 to February 2010. All 143 samples of feces were cultivated in six culture plates to determine the amounts of total bacteria, anaerobes, gram-positive bacteria, coliforms, lactobacilli, and bifidobacteria. The samples were evaluated with a bivariate correlation between coliforms and lactobacilli. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis with HhaI and MspI and a clustering analysis were performed for determination of diversity.


RESULTS
Bacteria were cultured in 61.5% of feces in the following order: anaerobes, gram-positive bacteria, lactobacilli, coliform, and bifidobacteria. The growth of total bacteria and lactobacilli increased in feces defecated after 24 hours of birth (P < 0.001, P = 0.008) and anaerobes decreased (P = 0.003). A negative correlation between the growth of lactobacilli and coliforms was found (r = -463, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms that bacterial colonization of healthy newborns born in cities is non-sterile, but has early diversification and inter-individuality.
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Eu Kyoung
EK
Lee
Research and Business Development Korea Yakult Co. Ltd, Yongin, Republic of Korea.
Young Tae
YT
Ahn
Graduate of International Agricultural Technology, Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea.
Chul Sung
CS
Huh
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hwan
H
Soo Kim
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Eugene
E
Kim
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Yoon Hong
YH
Chun
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jong-Seo
JS
Yoon
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hyun Hee
HH
Kim
Department of Pediatrics, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jin
J
Tack Kim
Biodiversity; Cities; Feces; Infant; Microbiota; Newborn