Infant fecal samples

The fecal samples for microbiota analyses were collected during a randomized controlled trial assessing the efficacy of maternal probiotic supplementation in reducing the risk of atopic eczema in the infant ({"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00167700","term_id":"NCT00167700"}}NCT00167700) conducted at the Turku University Hospital in Turku, Finland¹⁷. The clinical trial was a part of a series of prospective studies investigating the health implications of early host-microbe interaction, which included prospective gut microbiota sampling for the assessment of the impact of early exposures on gut microbiota composition and function. During the course of the clinical study, fecal samples were obtained from all participants at the ages of 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months for gut microbiota analyses. Altogether 13 infants exposed to neonatal antibiotics and 20 non-exposed infants were selected for this study based on sample availability. The samples were maintained at −80 °C and shipped on dry ice to the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, Safed, Israel. Antibiotic-free subjects were selected as controls. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Intermunicipal Hospital District of Southwest Finland. Oral and written informed consent was obtained from all the families upon enrollment in the clinical study.