ArticleMicrobiome2021
A philosophical perspective on the prenatal in utero microbiome debate.
Article in Microbiome, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers.
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
51 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gestational diabetes mellitus and maternal-infant microbiome axis: mechanistic insights and therapeutic interventions.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Mother-to-offspring microbial vertical transmission: timing, determinants, and impact on offspring susceptibility to gastrointestinal diseases.Medical review (2021) · 2026Review
- Early life bacteria and sibling exposure associate with restoration of the infant gut microbiome after cesarean section.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Underexplored maternal microbiomes: immune, metabolic, and microbial pathways shaping pregnancy outcomes.Infection and immunity · 2026Review
- Unraveling the dynamic changes in the intestinal microbiome: impacts on pre-weaning calf health and productivity.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Microbial colonisation of the neonatal beef calf gastrointestinal tract: limited influence of birth delivery method across five anatomical regions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Review
- Identification of bacteriophage DNA in human umbilical cord blood.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Microbiome: A Key Regulator of Body-Brain Interactions.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- CD71 + erythroid cells promote intestinal symbiotic microbial communities in pregnancy and neonatal period.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Personalized Nutrition with Banked Human Milk for Early Gut Microbiota Development: In Pursuit of the Perfect Match.Nutrients · 2024Review
- The dogma of the sterile uterus revisited: does microbial seeding occur during fetal life in humans and animals?Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2024Review
- The microbiome of the pregnant uterus in Holstein dairy heifers and cows assessed by bacterial culture and 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Establishment of the uterine microbiome following artificial insemination in virgin heifers.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Maternal gut microbiota in the health of mothers and offspring: from the perspective of immunology.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- What we need to know about the germ-free animal models.AIMS microbiology · 2024Review
- Unveiling the gut-eye axis: how microbial metabolites influence ocular health and disease.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Review
- Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Synbiotics-A Research Hotspot for Pediatric Obesity.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Special series on the role of the microbiome in reproduction and fertility.Reproduction & fertility · 2023Article
- Microbial Dysbiosis Tunes the Immune Response Towards Allergic Disease Outcomes.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Within the last 6 years, a research field has emerged that focuses on the characterization of microbial communities in the prenatal intrauterine environment of humans and their putative role in human health. However, there is considerable controversy around the existence of such microbial populations. The often contentious debate is primarily focused on technical aspects of the research, such as difficulties to assure aseptic sampling and to differentiate legitimate signals in the data from contamination. Although such discussions are clearly important, we feel that the problems with the prenatal microbiome field go deeper. In this commentary, we apply a philosophical framework to evaluate the foundations, experimental approaches, and interpretations used by scientists on both sides of the debate. We argue that the evidence for a "sterile womb" is based on a scientific approach that aligns well with important principles of the philosophy of science as genuine tests of the hypothesis and multiple angles of explanatory considerations were applied. In contrast, research in support of the "in utero colonization hypothesis" is solely based on descriptive verifications that do not provide explanatory insight, which weakens the evidence for a prenatal intrauterine microbiome. We propose that a reflection on philosophical principles can inform not only the debate on the prenatal intrauterine microbiome but also other disciplines that attempt to study low-biomass microbial communities.
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.