We usually refer to the critical period for intestinal flora establishment as infancy because the infant gut microbiota is characterized by low diversity and poor stability compared with that of adults. Moreover, it is also vulnerable to interference from a variety of factors. As β-lactam antibiotics are typically used in newborn infants with infectious diseases, we used 16S rDNA sequencing and LC-MS metabolomics to analyze fecal microbes and metabolites in 16 late preterm infants with or without β-lactam antibiotic treatment. The subjects were assigned to two groups: one not treated with antibiotics and another receiving β-lactam antibiotic treatment for less than seven days. Significant changes in fecal microbes and metabolites were observed in the late preterm infants treated with antibiotics, including a reduction in the diversity of the gut microbiota overall and some beneficial bacteria such as Bacteroides, whereas some opportunistic pathogenic bacteria such as Enterococcus showed an overgrowth trend. In addition, significant changes in some crucial metabolites were observed, such as amino acids and bile acids. These findings show that treatment with β-lactam antibiotics might affect the intestinal flora and its metabolites in late preterm infants in a short time period.

中文翻译：

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β-内酰胺类抗生素对晚期早产儿肠道菌群定植和代谢产物的影响

我们通常将肠道菌群建立的关键时期称为婴儿期，因为与成人相比，婴儿肠道菌群具有多样性低和稳定性差的特点。此外，它也容易受到各种因素的干扰。由于 β-内酰胺类抗生素通常用于患有传染病的新生儿，我们使用 16S rDNA 测序和 LC-MS 代谢组学分析了 16 名接受或未接受 β-内酰胺类抗生素治疗的晚期早产儿的粪便微生物和代谢物。受试者被分为两组：一组未接受抗生素治疗，另一组接受 β-内酰胺抗生素治疗少于 7 天。在接受抗生素治疗的晚期早产儿中观察到粪便微生物和代谢物的显着变化，包括整体肠道微生物群和一些有益细菌（如拟杆菌）的多样性减少，而一些机会致病菌（如肠球菌）则表现出过度生长的趋势。此外，还观察到一些关键代谢物的显着变化，例如氨基酸和胆汁酸。这些发现表明，β-内酰胺类抗生素治疗可能会在短时间内影响晚期早产儿的肠道菌群及其代谢物。