ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1649995
This article is part of the Research TopicNew and advanced mechanistic insights into the influences of the infant gut microbiota on human health and disease, Volume IIView all 5 articles
Functional Constipation in Chinese Infants: Disruptions in Gut Microbiota and Urinary Metabolome Revealed by a Cross-Sectional Analysis
Provisionally accepted
Haihong Zhao1
Xiuxia Lu2Hua Lou3Yanbin Ye2
Hui Ye1
Weiwei Li1Ziyu Long4
Jieling Wu2*
Xuezhi Zhang1*
Ji Wang5*- 1Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
- 2Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou, China
- 3Zhengzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
- 4GuangXi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China
- 5Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
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Background: Functional constipation (FC) is regarded as the most prevalent functional gastrointestinal disorder among children and is closely related to the intestinal microbiota. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of data regarding this relationship in Chinese infants.Methods: In this study, we investigated the alterations in gut microbiota of 79 FC infants under 2 years of age in China, using 31 balanced non-constipated (BC) children as controls. Some clinical parameters were evaluated, fecal microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and urinary metabolites were profiled via UPLC-Q-TOF/MS method.Results: Children with FC demonstrated significantly lower stool scale scores compared to BC group. Significant differences were observed in both microbial community composition and metabolite profiles between the FC and BC groups. The characteristic microbiota of the FC group included Prevotella, Alistipes, Collinsella and Eggerthella, associated with dietary fiber degradation, short-chain fatty acid and bile acid conversion, and participated in sphingolipid, thiamine, and glutathione among Chinese infants under 2 years of age with FC. 删除[Haihong Zhao]: balanced controls ( 删除[Haihong Zhao]: ) 删除[Haihong Zhao]: metabolism. A combined biomarker exhibited excellent capacity in distinguishing FC from BC.Conclusions: This study offers new insights into the gut microbiota and metabolomic profiles associated with FC in young children, particularly that glutathione metabolism may be a new pathway for infant constipation, underscoring the potential for developing innovative therapeutic strategies through the integration of multi-omics approaches.
Keywords: age, Functional constipation, Gut Microbiota, Infant, urinary metabolome
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Lu, Lou, Ye, Ye, Li, Long, Wu, Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jieling Wu, Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou, China
Xuezhi Zhang, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
Ji Wang, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
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