Placental bacteria provoke premature birth

Bacteria in the placenta have an influence on premature birth

22/05/2014

In the womb, the child is cared for via the placenta. The tissue in the uterus, also known as the mother cake, also filters toxins and germs from the maternal blood. However, as researchers have now found, this organ is not completely germ-free.

Diverse bacterial community lives in the placenta
As reported by American researchers, the placenta of pregnant women contains a small, diverse bacterial community whose composition is best reminiscent of that of the oral cavity. In the trade magazine „Science Translational Medicine“ They write that there is a connection between the type of bacteria and the risk of premature birth. The bacterial composition is altered by infections in pregnancy such as urinary tract infections.

Supply of the embryo via the mother cake
The cake, as the placenta is also called, forms at the beginning of pregnancy and ensures the supply of the growing embryo with nutrients and oxygen via the umbilical cord. In addition, it serves as a natural barrier between the mother's and the child's bloodstream and prevents certain pollutants and pathogens from getting from mother to child. However, the placenta does not filter out all harmful substances from maternal blood and not all bacteria, as the new study suggests. Various studies have shown in the past that pesticides in pregnant women and mothers can present a health risk to the unborn or breastfeeding child, as the poisons are deposited not only in the breast milk but also in the cakes and thus transferred to the child.

Low number of bacteria
A total of 320 placements of women were studied by scientists around Kjersti Aagaard of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston after birth. They used genetic engineering techniques to identify the bacterial strains found in them and then compared the composition with that of other body regions. In recent years, data on the diversity of bacteria in and on man are at „Human Microbiome Project“ collected. The bacterial composition of the placenta differed from woman to woman. In general, the number of bacteria was low, most of the women were the intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli. Most of the bacteria were harmless and belonged to the usual human germs.

Similarities with bacterial composition in the oral cavity
The researchers basically found a similarity of bacterial composition with that of the oral cavity, especially on the tongue, tonsils and plaque. The bacteria were probably in the early pregnancy on the mother's blood in the cake. Thus, her new study also give new clues as to when children are first colonized with bacteria, namely possibly already in the womb over the placenta. Certain germs were more prevalent in women who had a premature baby and others were less common. In another study, the scientists now want to investigate this relationship in more detail. In addition, the composition of the bacterial community was also in women who had received in the first and early second trimester of pregnancy infection, such as a urinary tract infection, changed. (Sb)