Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, NewYork Presbyterian Queens, Flushing, NY, United States.
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
Environ Res. 2024 Dec 15;263(Pt 1):120053. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.120053. Epub 2024 Sep 27.
In utero exposure to environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is associated with neurodevelopmental impairments[1-8], prematurity[9-12] and low birthweight[9,13-15]. The gut microbiome serves as an intermediary between self and external environment; therefore, exploring the impact of PAH on microbiota may elucidate their role in disease. Here, we evaluated the effect of in utero PAH exposure on meconium microbiome.
We evaluated 49 mother-child dyads within Fair Start Birth Cohort with full term delivery and adequate meconium sampling. Prenatal PAH was measured using personal active samplers worn for 48 h during third trimester. Post-processing, 35 samples with adequate biomass were evaluated for association between tertile of PAH exposure (high (H) vs low/medium (L/M)) and microbiome diversity.
No significant differences were observed in alpha diversity metrics, Chao1 and Shannon index, between exposure groups for total PAH. However, alpha diversity metrics were negatively associated with log benzo[a]anthracene (BaA) and log chrysene (Chry) with high exposure, but positively associated with log benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) with low/medium exposure. After adjustment for birthweight and sex, alpha diversity metrics were negatively associated with log BaA, BaP, Chry, Indeno (Zhang et al., 2021; Perera et al., 2018)pyrene (IcdP) and total PAH with high exposure. Conversely, with low/medium exposure, alpha diversity metrics positively correlated with log BaP and benzo[b]fluoranthane (BbF). No significant difference in beta diversity was observed across groups using UniFrac, weighted UniFrac, or Bray-Curtis methods. Differential expression analysis showed differentially abundant taxa between exposure groups.
Bacterial taxa were detectable in 35/49 (71%) meconium samples. Altered alpha diversity metrics and differentially abundant taxa between groups suggest in utero PAH exposure may impede early colonization. Sample size is limited, but these findings provide supporting evidence for wider scale research. Research on long-term impact of prenatal PAH exposure on childhood health outcomes is ongoing. Differential effects of specific PAHs need further evaluation.
宫内接触环境多环芳烃 (PAH) 与神经发育障碍[1-8]、早产[9-12]和低出生体重[9、13-15]有关。肠道微生物组是自我和外部环境之间的中介；因此，探索 PAH 对微生物组的影响可以阐明其在疾病中的作用。在这里，我们评估了宫内 PAH 暴露对胎粪微生物组的影响。
我们评估了 Fair Start 出生队列中 49 对母婴对，这些母婴对均足月分娩且有足够的胎粪样本。在妊娠晚期，使用个人主动采样器佩戴 48 小时来评估产前 PAH。在后处理过程中，对 35 个具有足够生物量的样本进行评估，以确定 PAH 暴露（高（H）与低/中（L/M））与微生物组多样性之间的关系。
在总 PAH 暴露组中，未观察到 alpha 多样性指标（Chao1 和 Shannon 指数）有显著差异。然而，alpha 多样性指标与高暴露组的 log 苯并[a]蒽（BaA）和 log 屈（Chry）呈负相关，但与低/中暴露组的 log 苯并[a]芘（BaP）呈正相关。在调整出生体重和性别后，alpha 多样性指标与 log BaA、BaP、Chry、茚并（Zhang 等人，2021 年；Perera 等人，2018 年）芘（IcdP）和高暴露的总 PAH 呈负相关。相反，低/中暴露组的 alpha 多样性指标与 log BaP 和苯并[b]荧蒽（BbF）呈正相关。使用 UniFrac、加权 UniFrac 或 Bray-Curtis 方法，在各组之间未观察到 beta 多样性有显著差异。差异表达分析显示暴露组之间存在差异丰富的分类群。
在 35/49（71%）胎粪样本中可检测到细菌分类群。组间 alpha 多样性指标和差异丰富的分类群的变化表明，宫内 PAH 暴露可能会阻碍早期定植。样本量有限，但这些发现为更广泛的研究提供了支持证据。正在进行关于产前 PAH 暴露对儿童健康结果的长期影响的研究。需要进一步评估特定 PAHs 的差异影响。
