Abstract：
Constipation during pregnancy can induce serious complications, including miscarriage and preterm labour, while the evidence of probiotics in improving constipation during pregnancy was little. In this study, 29 healthy pregnant women and 65 constipated pregnant women were enrolled to assess the effectiveness of probiotics on constipation during pregnancy. Our results showed that the probiotics were effective in improving the Constipation Severity Scale (CSS) and Bristol Stool Scale (BSS) scores, including increasing defecation frequency, decreasing defecation time, and improving fecal characteristics. 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the probiotics effectively restored the diversity of intestinal microbiota. At the phylum level, Firmicutes (13.27% vs 57.20%) and Actinobacteria (3.77% vs 12.80%) were increased, while Bacteroidetes (77.82% vs 20.24%) was decreased. At the level of the genus, Faecalibacterium (2.03% vs 10.33%), Bifidobacterium (1.21% vs 8.56%), and Phascolarctobacterium (0.05% vs 2.88%), the beneficial bacteria were increased, while the Bacteroides (29.23% vs 12.28%) and Prevotella (24.32% vs 4.92%) were decreased. In conclusion, these results indicated that probiotics can effectively relieve the constipation symptoms by improving the diversity of intestinal microbiota, regulating the disturbance of microflorae, and restoring the balance of microflorae to exert a stronger moderating effect than diet and lifestyle modification. Our results provided clinical data and a theoretical basis for the exploitation of probiotics in treating constipation during pregnancy. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2100052069.
摘要：
怀孕期间便秘可诱发严重并发症，包括流产和早产，而益生菌在改善怀孕期间便秘方面的证据很少。在这项研究中,纳入29名健康孕妇和65名便秘孕妇，以评估益生菌对怀孕期间便秘的有效性。我们的结果表明，益生菌在改善便秘严重程度量表（CSS）和布里斯托尔粪便量表（BSS）评分方面是有效的，包括增加排便频率,减少排便时间,改善粪便特性。16SrRNA测序显示，益生菌有效地恢复了肠道菌群的多样性。在门一级，厚壁菌(13.27%vs57.20%)和放线菌(3.77%vs12.80%)增加,而拟杆菌（77.82%vs20.24%）减少。在属的水平，粪杆菌（2.03%vs10.33%），双歧杆菌（1.21%vs8.56%），和结核分枝杆菌(0.05%vs2.88%)，有益菌增加了，拟杆菌(29.23%vs12.28%)和普雷沃氏菌(24.32%vs4.92%)下降。总之,这些结果表明，益生菌可以通过改善肠道菌群的多样性来有效缓解便秘症状，调节微生物的干扰，恢复微生物的平衡，比饮食和生活方式的改变发挥更强的调节作用。本研究结果为开发益生菌治疗妊娠期便秘提供了临床数据和理论依据。中国临床试验注册中心:ChiCTR2100052069.
