Maternal separation during breastfeeding as a risk factor for developing giardiasis: evaluation in a rodent model.

IF 5 3区医学 Q1 GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY

Gut Pathogens Pub Date : 2026-02-14 DOI:10.1186/s13099-025-00720-5

M F Gerena-Cruz, I M Guatibonza-Arévalo, G Garcia-Laguna, R Guerrero-Lozano, Z Dueñas

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Abstract

Background: Giardia lamblia is a globally prevalent gastrointestinal parasite. Breastfeeding provides protective effects against infections, but the impact of early life stress, such as maternal separation, on G. lamblia infection remains unclear. This study examines how Maternal Separation During Breastfeeding (MSDB) affects G. lamblia infection in Wistar rats.

Results: In a Wistar rat model, MSDB led to a significant increase in G. lamblia cyst shedding, with early effects more evident in males and delayed effects in females. Additionally, infected MSDB rats showed elevated eosinophil infiltration in the intestinal mucosa-consistent with heightened immune response-along with altered villus/crypt ratios in non-infected separated animals, particularly in males.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that maternal separation during breastfeeding intensifies the severity of G. lamblia infection. This suggests that early-life maternal interactions may play a protective role in host resistance specifically against G. lamblia, highlighting the relevance of early-life conditions in shaping outcomes of giardiasis.

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母乳喂养期间母亲分离是发生贾第虫病的危险因素：啮齿动物模型的评估。

背景：贾第鞭毛虫是一种全球流行的胃肠道寄生虫。母乳喂养具有预防感染的保护作用，但早期生活压力（如母亲分离）对兰氏杆菌感染的影响尚不清楚。本研究探讨了母乳喂养期间母亲分离（MSDB）对Wistar大鼠兰氏螺旋体感染的影响。结果：在Wistar大鼠模型中，MSDB导致兰氏螺旋体囊肿脱落明显增加，且在雄性中早期作用更为明显，在雌性中延迟作用。此外，感染MSDB的大鼠肠粘膜嗜酸性粒细胞浸润升高，与免疫反应增强一致，未感染的分离动物，特别是雄性，绒毛/隐窝比率也发生了变化。结论：我们的研究结果表明，母乳喂养期间母亲分离会加剧兰氏杆菌感染的严重程度。这表明，早期母体的相互作用可能在宿主对G. lamblia的抗性中发挥保护作用，突出了早期生活条件与塑造贾第虫病结果的相关性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Gut Pathogens GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY-MICROBIOLOGY

CiteScore

7.70

自引率

2.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： Gut Pathogens is a fast publishing, inclusive and prominent international journal which recognizes the need for a publishing platform uniquely tailored to reflect the full breadth of research in the biology and medicine of pathogens, commensals and functional microbiota of the gut. The journal publishes basic, clinical and cutting-edge research on all aspects of the above mentioned organisms including probiotic bacteria and yeasts and their products. The scope also covers the related ecology, molecular genetics, physiology and epidemiology of these microbes. The journal actively invites timely reports on the novel aspects of genomics, metagenomics, microbiota profiling and systems biology. Gut Pathogens will also consider, at the discretion of the editors, descriptive studies identifying a new genome sequence of a gut microbe or a series of related microbes (such as those obtained from new hosts, niches, settings, outbreaks and epidemics) and those obtained from single or multiple hosts at one or different time points (chronological evolution).