Abstract
The gut microbiome composition is influenced by many factors including environmental exposures. Here, we investigated the effect of thirdhand cigarette smoke (THS) and exposure age on gut microbiome diversity. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to THS at human exposure relevant levels for three weeks during three different life stages: postnatal (0–3 weeks of age), pubescent (4–7 weeks of age), and adult (9–12 weeks of age), respectively. Cecal microbiome profiles were assessed at 17 weeks of age by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that age at THS exposure strongly influenced the cecal microbiome composition. Although postnatal THS exposure significantly influenced the microbial composition, pubescent and adulthood exposures only had minor effects. The microbiome of postnatally THS‐exposed mice significantly increased several degradation pathways that regulate glycolysis and pyruvate decarboxylation, and significantly decreased coenzyme A biosynthesis and pyrimidine deoxyribonucleoside salvage. Our results indicate that mouse postnatal development is particularly susceptible to persistent THS exposure effects on the gut microbiome.
Highlights
Significant evidence links the gut microbiome to health and disease, in both human and animal studies (Cryan et al, 2019; Giles & Couper, 2020; Mao et al, 2020; Ogunrinola et al, 2020)
We investigated the effect of thirdhand cigarette smoke (THS) exposure and exposure age on the diversity of the gut microbiome in C57BL/6 mice and used bioinformatics analysis to explore alterations in the biological functions associated with the THS-exposed gut microbiome
Three cohorts of C57BL/6 mice were exposed to THS at different life stages: THS1, THS2, and THS3, and an unexposed cohort of mice served as a control (Figure 1a), which were housed in at least 6 cages per treatment group
Summary
Significant evidence links the gut microbiome to health and disease, in both human and animal studies (Cryan et al, 2019; Giles & Couper, 2020; Mao et al, 2020; Ogunrinola et al, 2020). Environmental factors including diet and xenobiotic exposures can alter the microbiome composition Studies show that early-life environmental exposures have persistent effects on microbiome composition and function (Lozupone et al, 2012; Snijders et al, 2016). Evidence has emerged that exposure to toxic environmental chemicals leads to adverse health effects that are mediated through altering the gut microbiome (Colquhoun et al, 2020; Khan & Wang, 2019; Sbihi et al, 2019; Tsiaoussis et al, 2019; Tu et al, 2020)
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