The relationship between Lactobacillus reuteri colonisation, microbial diversity, intestinal inflammation and crying time in infants with colic (#238)
Infant
colic is a condition characterised by excessive crying of unknown cause.
Despite more than sixty years of research the aetiology of infant colic remains
unclear and there is no widely accepted treatment. Recently, a
pathophysiological relationship due to an imbalance in microbiota and/or
inflammation has been proposed as a cause of infant colic. This has led to the Baby Biotics trial, which
investigated whether administration of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri was an effective
treatment for colic, and examined the effects on intestinal microbiota and
intestinal inflammation. In the current study,
infants with colic were given daily drops of a L. reuteri solution or placebo for 28 days. We examined faecal samples collected from 65
infants and assessed E. coli
colonisation, intestinal microbial diversity, intestinal inflammation
(calprotectin levels) and infant crying time at day 28 of the trial. We found
that L. reuteri supplementation
and/or colonisation did not significantly modulate intestinal microbial diversity
or intestinal inflammation and did not significantly reduce crying time in
infants with colic. In contrast, we observed a non-significant, positive trend for
a positive association between L. reuteri
and E. coli and a significant
positive correlation between L. reuteri colonisation
levels and crying time. These findings
suggest that as L. reuteri
colonisation did not modulate E. coli
colonisation, diversity or inflammation, the positive association with infant
crying time may be due to other, unknown causes. These results highlight the
need for further studies to facilitate the development of evidence-based
treatment strategies for infant colic.