Gastrointestinal Microbiome Influence on the Development of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

The purpose of this study is to advance our knowledge of the factors that contribute to the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung affecting premature infants. Specifically, the investigators will determine the complexity of the gut microbiota, the genera of the bacteria that naturally live in the gut, and determine if the relative diversity of the gut bacteria is a prognostic indicator of BPD. To accomplish this, the investigators propose to characterize the microbiota of human premature newborns with BPD, then validate this potential mechanism in mice. The investigators will enroll very low birthweight premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care units (NICU) at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and Regional One Health that are at high risk to develop BPD. A cohort of well full term newborns will also be enrolled. Non-invasive stool samples will be obtained weekly over the first month of life. Infants that eventually develop BPD will be paired with infants that did not develop BPD. Stool samples from these infants will be sent for analysis. The investigators expect that reduced complexity of the gut microbiome is associated with BPD. The investigators will model the contribution of reduced microbiome complexity to the risk to develop BPD or death, as well as the association with disease severity. The project investigates important factors leading to the development of BPD, and has the potential to directly translate to therapy for the most significant pulmonary complication of prematurity.