ArticleNature medicine2020
Viable bacterial colonization is highly limited in the human intestine in utero.
Article in Nature medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 165 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
165 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 308 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating prenatal and perinatal factors on meconium microbiota: a systematic review and cohort study.Pediatric research · 2024Pooled it
- Phenotypic and functional characterization of first-trimester human placental macrophages, Hofbauer cells.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2021Trial
- Gut microbiota translocation and dissemination in health: can it be beneficial and purposeful?Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota functional remodeling and butyrate depletion amplify anti-Ro/La antibody-driven type I interferon activation in neonatal lupus.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Gestational diabetes mellitus and maternal-infant microbiome axis: mechanistic insights and therapeutic interventions.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- The bovine ocular microbiome: a multi-approach study of composition and antimicrobial activity.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Maternal Microbiome in Fetal Programming: A One Health Perspective on Translational Implications for Early-Life Health.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Prenatal training grounds: the developmental origins of chronic immune disease.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Therapeutic strategies for hypertension: exploring the role of microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids in kidney physiology and development.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Review
- Underexplored maternal microbiomes: immune, metabolic, and microbial pathways shaping pregnancy outcomes.Infection and immunity · 2026Review
- Early-Life Gut Microbiota: Education of the Immune System and Links to Autoimmune Diseases.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Unveiling balanced prenatal microbial colonization in amniotic fluid through an integrated culture and sequencing approach.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Advancement on the Association between Gut Microbiota and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children.Annals of nutrition & metabolism · 2026Review
- Crosstalk between the microbiome and the mucosal immunoglobulin A system in the lung, in health and disease.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota and pediatric metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: clinical evidence and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- Factors influencing gut microbial colonization: A host-microbe-environment interaction perspective.Current research in food science · 2026Review
- Microbial colonisation of the neonatal beef calf gastrointestinal tract: limited influence of birth delivery method across five anatomical regions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Maternal obesity, diet, and the gut microbiome: implications for offspring cardiometabolic programming.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- The maternal gut-fetal brain axis: role of maternal microbial metabolome in early neurodevelopment.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Maternal consumption of urbanized diet compromises early-life health in association with gut microbiota.Gut microbes · 2025Review
105 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Mucosal immunity develops in the human fetal intestine by 11-14 weeks of gestation, yet whether viable microbes exist in utero and interact with the intestinal immune system is unknown. Bacteria-like morphology was identified in pockets of human fetal meconium at mid-gestation by scanning electron microscopy (n = 4), and a sparse bacterial signal was detected by 16S rRNA sequencing (n = 40 of 50) compared to environmental controls (n = 87). Eighteen taxa were enriched in fetal meconium, with Micrococcaceae (n = 9) and Lactobacillus (n = 6) the most abundant. Fetal intestines dominated by Micrococcaceae exhibited distinct patterns of T cell composition and epithelial transcription. Fetal Micrococcus luteus, isolated only in the presence of monocytes, grew on placental hormones, remained viable within antigen presenting cells, limited inflammation ex vivo and possessed genomic features linked with survival in the fetus. Thus, viable bacteria are highly limited in the fetal intestine at mid-gestation, although strains with immunomodulatory capacity are detected in subsets of specimens.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.