Diet and nerves: the impact of maternal feeding on newborn intestinal permeability.

摘要

Development during the postnatal period is critical for establishment of normal physiology of the intestinal tract, including permeability, the microbiota and intestinal defences. It is now well established that maternal factors also have a major impact on the development of intestinal physiology in developing neonates. Exposure to stress, via maternal separation, in rats leads to increased colonic barrier dysfunction, an altered secretory state and changes in host-microbial interactions (Gareau et al. 2006). Such dysfunctions occur in the presence of altered cholinergic nerves (Gareau et al. 2007b), and are normalized by either the administration of beneficial microbes, referred to as probiotics (Gareau et al. 2007a), or treatment with a non-selective corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) antagonist (Gareau et al. 2006).