Effects of intergenerational transmission of small intestinal bacteria cultured from stunted Bangladeshi children with enteropathy

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), a small intestinal disorder found at a high prevalence in stunted children, is associated with gut mucosal barrier disruption and decreased absorptive capacity. To test the hypothesis that intergenerational transmission of a perturbed small intestinal microbiota contributes to undernutrition by inducing EED, we characterized two consortia of bacterial strains cultured from duodenal aspirates from stunted Bangladeshi children with EED, one of which induced local and systemic inflammation in female gnotobiotic mice. Offspring of dams colonized with the inflammatory consortium exhibited impaired prenatal and postnatal growth, as well as immunologic changes phenocopying features of EED in children. Dam-to-pup transmission of the inflammatory consortium produced, in recently weaned offspring, alterations in inter-cellular signaling pathways related to intestinal epithelial…