Changes in intestinal microflora in digestive tract diseases during pregnancy

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the gut microbiome composition in pregnant women with digestive diseases to analyze the relationships between the microflora changes and digestive diseases during pregnancy. METHODS: Fecal samples obtained from 71 pregnant women [six acute fatty liver (AF group), 21 constipation (C group), 24 excessive vomiting (V group) and 20 normal pregnancy (CP group)] and 26 non-pregnant (NP group) women were subjected to 16 s rRNA sequencing. Differential analysis of intestinal flora at the genera level was performed. RESULTS: The relative abundance of Coprobacillus, Acinetobacter, Enterococcus, Weissella and Lysinibacillus was increased in the digestive diseases (AF, C and V) groups compared with CP group, whereas that of five common genera, including Terrisporobacter, Dysgonomonas, Adlercreutzia, Fusicatenibacter and Blautia, was decreased in digestive diseases groups. Additionally, in digestive diseases (AF, C and V) groups, the abundance of 13 common genera, such as Carnobacterium, Coprobacillus and Psychrobacter, was higher than NP group, whereas that of 27 common genera, such as Blautia and Terrisporobacter, was lower than NP group. About 69 genera were differentially abundant between AF and C groups; two genera (Aerococcus and Senegalimassilia) were identified between AF and V groups; moreover, total 63 genera were obtained between C and V groups. CONCLUSION: Our data revealed that the abundance of Acinetobacter, Enterococci, Paenibacillus, Blautia and Collinsella might be associated with the digestive diseases during pregnancy. These findings further supported the idea that targeting the gut microbiota could be a new prevention or therapeutic approach for improving digestive diseases during pregnancy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00404-019-05336-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.