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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Dig Dis Sci. 2020 Mar;65(3):706–722. doi: 10.1007/s10620-020-06092-x

Table 3.

Characteristics of Studies Investigating Probiotic Administration during Pregnancy and after Delivery on Infant Fecal Microbiota

Country of Study,
Age Range,
Duration of
Intervention		 Study Design and
Participants/Group		 Nutrition Base and
Probiotic Strain and
Amount		 Microbiota Assessment Outcomes Citation
Australia (Melbourne) Mothers at 36 wk gestation until delivery

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • Probiotic (n=59)

  • Placebo (n=57)

  • Powder in capsules

  • LGG

  • 1.8×1010 CFU/d

  • Infant at 3, 7, 28 and 90 d of age

  • qPCR, T-RFLP

  • ↑ prevalence of species belonging to B. longum group at 90 d

 64
Finland (Turku) Mothers at 36 wk gestation until delivery; infants 0-6 mo

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • Probiotic (n=77)

  • Placebo (n=82)

  • Powder in water

  • LGG

  • 1.0×1010 CFU/d

  • 3, 6 and 12 mo of age (n=96 infants)

  • Fish

  • ↔ counts of total bacteria Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus/Enterocococcus at 3, 6 and 12 mo

 65
Netherlands Mothers at 6 wk before delivery until delivery; infants at 0-1 y

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • Probiotic (n=20-37)

  • Placebo (n=17-45)

  • Powder in water, milk or formula

  • B. bifidum W23 + B. lactis W52 + L. lactis W58

  • 1x109 CFU/strain/d

  • 1 and 2 wk, 1, 3, 12, and 18 mo, 2 and 6 y of age

  • IS-pro

  • ↔ bacterial abundances and diversity, except Shannon diversity for Bacteriodetes and Proteobacteria were lower at 2wk

 66
Japan Mothers at 34 wk gestation until delivery; infants 0-6 mo

  • Open trial

  • Probiotic (n=122)

  • Control (n=26)

  • Powder in water, milk or formula

  • B. breve M16V + B. longum BB536

  • 1xl09CFU/strain/d

  • 4 and 10 mo of age

  • V6-V8 16S rRNA gene by 454 pyrosequencing

  • Limited change in microbiota composition

  • ↑ proportion of Bacteroidetes at 4 mo

 67
Norway (Trondheim study) Mother at 36 wk gestation until 3 mo postnatal while breastfeeding

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • Probiotic (20-37)

  • Placebo (17-45)

  • Fermented milk

  • LGG (5×1010 CFU/d) + L. acidophilus La-5 (5×1010 CFU/d) + BB-12 (5×109 CFU/d)

  • 3 mo and 2 y of age

  • 16S rRNA gene by 454 Illumina MiSeq

  • ↔ alpha- and beta-diversity and proportions of bacterial classes and genera at age of 3 mo and 2y

 68
Finland (Turku) Mothers at 2 mo before delivery until 2 mo after delivery during breastfeeding

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • LPR+BL999 (n=28)

  • ST11+BL999 (n=28)

  • Placebo (n=22)

  • Powder in water

  • L. rhamnosus LPR + B. longum BL999 or

  • L. paracasei ST11 + B. longum BL999 (109CFU/strain/d)

  • 6 mo of age

  • FISH, qPCR

  • ↑ Percentage of Lactobacillus/Enterococcus and ↓count of Bifidobacterium in LPR+BL999 at 6 mo of age

  • ↓ Colonization rate of B. infantis in LPR+BL999

  • ↓ Colonization rate of B. longum in ST11 + BL999

 69
Finland (Turku) Mothers at 2-4 wk prior to and until delivery; BF mothers or infants 0-6 mo

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • Probiotic (n=46-53)

  • Placebo (n=47-52)

  • Mother: powder in capsules

  • Infants: powder in water

  • LGG

  • 1010CFU/d

  • 6 and 24 mo of age (n=96 infants)

  • FISH

  • ↑ count of C. perfringens/histolyticum subgroup at 6 mo

  • ↔ numbers of total bacteria Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Bacteroides at 6 mo

  • ↑ counts of Lactobacillus and C. perfringens/histolyticum group at 24 mo

  • ↔ numbers of total bacteria Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides at 24 mo

 70
New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington) Mothers at 35 wk gestation until 6 mo postpartum if breastfeeding); infants 5d – 2 y

  • Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial

  • HN001 (n=285)

  • HN019 (n=50)

  • Placebo (n=315)

  • Powder in capsules

  • L. rhamnosus HN001

  • B. animalis subsp. lactis HN019

  • 9×109 CFU/strain/d

  • 0, 3, 12 and 24 mo of age

  • Metagenomic sequencing by Illumina HiSeq2500

  • ↑ count of C. perfringens/histolyticum subgroup at 6 mo

  • ↔ numbers of total bacteria Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Bacteroides at 6 mo

  • ↑ counts of Lactobacillus and C. perfringens/histolyticum group at 24 mo

  • ↔ numbers of total bacteria Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides at 24 mo

 71

Abbreviations: BB-12, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12; CFU, colony-forming unit; CS, cesarean section; d, day, FISH, fluorescent in situ hybridization; LGG, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG; IS-pro, interspace profiling; mo, month; qPCR, quantitative PCR; T-RFLP, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription quantitative PCR; VD, vaginal delivered; y, year; ↑indicates significantly increased; ↓ indicated significantly decreased; ↔ indicates no effect