13 Diagnosis and treatment for any of these conditions is challenging,13 although changes in the microbiota were suggested to play a role.14 Barker hypothesized the perinatal period to determine future health and propensity for diseases.6,15 Hence, intrauterine factors affecting the fetus may also elevate risk for the development of hypertension, diabetes, stroke,

coronary artery disease, and other conditions in adulthood. One pathological process implicated in multiple pathologies is intrauterine infection, and the role of micro-organisms strategically situated to affect this process should be explored. In the first in-depth study of microbial composition Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and ecology in the vaginal compartment of asymptomatic reproductive aged women, Ravel et al.16 characterized 396 healthy North American women, representing four ethnic groups: Caucasian, Afro-American, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Hispanic, and Asian. Characterizing <2,000 bacteria per vaginal sample detected significant differences in dominant Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical bacteria species as well as vaginal pH in association with ethnicity.16 A recent study by Taniguchi’s

group extended the analysis to the complex vaginal microbiota in women with DNA Synthesis inhibitor bacterial vaginosis.17 Dominguez-Bello et al. reported that the delivery mode, vaginal or cesarean, shapes the acquisition and structure of the initial microbiota in newborns.18 The relatively sterile neonate rapidly harvests micro-organisms from the environment, and much of the newborn microbiota is inoculated by his mother during and after delivery. Comparison of the microbiota of four vaginal and six cesarean born babies in Venezuela revealed that cesarean Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical born neonates Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical acquired microbiota

closely resembling their mother’s skin microbiota, while vaginally born neonates acquired microbiota that resembled their mother’s vaginal microbiota. Regardless of delivery mode, neonates developed early bacterial communities that were undifferentiated across multiple body habitats. The effect of delivery mode on infant microbiota and its impact on development and future health should be further studied. Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. While the etiology is not fully understood, Unoprostone intrauterine infection may account for 25%–40% of preterm deliveries.19 Understanding the microbiology of the female urogenital tract, and the role that the microbiome might play in preterm deliveries, is certainly one of the “holy grails” of the search for the relationship between the microbiome and the “great obstetrical syndromes.”20 Our group recently formed a research platform for the study of the microbiome in human pregnancy. A biorepository of high-quality specimens was established for microbial samples of multiple anatomic sites in pregnant women.