Impact of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on fecal microbiota composition in mother-infant dyads.

Environment international
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

There is growing evidence suggesting that chemical exposure alters gut microbiota composition. However, not much is known about the impact of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on the gut microbial community. Here, in a mother-infant study, we set out to identify the gut bacterial species that associate with chemical exposure before (maternal) and after (maternal, infant) birth. Paired serum and stool samples were collected from mother-infant dyads (n = 30) in a longitudinal setting. PFAS were quantified in maternal serum to examine their associations with the microbial compositions (determined by shotgun metagenomic sequencing) in mothers and infants. High maternal exposure to PFAS was consistently associated with increased abundance of Methanobrevibacter smithii in maternal stool. Among individual PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFHpS showed the strongest association with M. smithii. However, maternal total PFAS exposure associated only weakly with the infant microbiome. Our findings suggest that PFAS exposure affects the composition of the adult gut microbiome.

Year of Publication
2023
Journal
Environment international
Volume
176
Pages
107965
Date Published
05/2023
ISSN
1873-6750
DOI
10.1016/j.envint.2023.107965
PubMed ID
37210808
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