Funding outcome

What makes us human? Is it our cells? Interestingly, we are made up of 90% more bacterial cells than human cells. There are tens of trillions of bacteria that reside in our gut. These bacteria break down the foods that we eat into molecules that can access the brain. The brain is one of the major components of the body which interacts with many bodily systems, such as our gut, for normal healthy functioning. Increased quantities of well-documented 'harmful' bacteria have been found in the gut of adults with depression compared to healthy adults. This research highlights the potential role of gut bacteria on mental health. Poor mental health is common in new mothers. More than a quarter of women worldwide experience mental health problems after giving birth. Specifically in Alberta, 7% of women experience prenatal depression. The primary aim of my study is to examine whether maternal stresses (stress and/or depression) pre-and-post pregnancy have an impact on the development of the infant's gut bacteria and developing brain. This research will analyze data from the largest birth cohort in Canada, the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort which has over 3,500 full-term healthy infants from across Canada. I will be analyzing data on maternal stresses during pregnancy from questionnaires, infant gut bacteria at ages 3 and 12 months from fecal samples, and then brain development during the preschool years from a neurodevelopment assessment that was conducted. The CHILD birth cohort follows children across the lifespan, which allows us to learn about pathways from events at birth to the development of the infant's gut bacteria to later brain development. This will be the first cohort study to explore such a pathway in full-term infants. Creating a pathway from events during birth to later brain development is important as it can act as a tool to predict future developmental delay in infants. Our findings have the potential to differentiate between 'helpful' and 'harmful' gut bacteria on the developing brain, which could be used to identify potential probiotics (bacteria that can be consumed) that could restore and target the infant's gut. They will also reinforce the benefit of programs that reduce stress during pregnancy, as being valuable to mothers and their families, and having the potential to reduce the risk of poor neurodevelopment in their infants.