Is Associated with Vaginal Dysbiosis in Healthy Pregnant Women: A Preliminary Study.

Vaginal dysbiosis has been identified to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm delivery and premature rupture of membranes. However, the overall structure and composition of vaginal microbiota in different trimesters of the pregnant women has not been fully elucidated. In this study, the physiological changes of the vaginal microbiota in healthy pregnant women were investigated. A total of 83 healthy pregnant participants were enrolled, who are in the first, second, or third pregnancy trimester. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to explore the abundant bacteria in the vaginal microbiota. No significant difference in the abundance of , , , , /, or was found among different trimesters, except . Compared with the first pregnancy trimester, the abundance of decreased in the second and third trimester while the abundance of was increased in the second trimester. Moreover, we also found that vaginal cleanliness is correlated with the present of , , and and leukocyte esterase is associated with , , , , /, and . For those whose vaginal cleanliness raised or leukocyte esterase became positive, the richness of increased, while that of decreased significantly. Our present data indicated that the altered vaginal microbiota, mainly , could be observed among different trimesters of pregnancy and could be considered as a potential bacterial marker for evaluating vaginal cleanliness and leukocyte esterase.