A chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) used in plastic packaging and in the linings of food and beverage cans, may be passed from a mother to her offspring during pregnancy and cause changes in the gut bacteria of the offspring.
Emerging evidence from a research study in rabbits suggests that environmental toxicants may influence inflammation-promoted chronic disease susceptibility during early life. BPA exposure just before or after birth leads to reduced gut bacterial diversity, bacterial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and elevated gut permeability – three common early markers of inflammation-promoted chronic diseases.
The researchers observed that exposure to BPA during pregnancy caused chronic inflammation in the offspring’s intestines and liver. The researchers also noted signs of increased gut permeability – or leaky gut – and a decrease in the diversity of gut bacteria and anti-inflammatory bacterial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids.
2017 Study Abstract
Bisphenol A (BPA) accumulates in the maturing gut and liver in utero and is known to alter gut bacterial profiles in offspring. Gut bacterial dysbiosis may contribute to chronic colonic and systemic inflammation. We hypothesized that perinatal BPA exposure-induced intestinal (and liver) inflammation in offspring is due to alterations in the microbiome and colonic metabolome. The 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing analysis revealed differences in beta diversity with a significant reduction in the relative abundances of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) producers such as Oscillospira and Ruminococcaceae due to BPA exposure. Furthermore, BPA exposure reduced fecal SCFA levels and increased systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels. BPA exposure-increased intestinal permeability was ameliorated by the addition of SCFA in vitro. Metabolic fingerprints revealed alterations in global metabolism and amino acid metabolism. Thus, our findings indicate that perinatal BPA exposure may cause gut bacterial dysbiosis and altered metabolite profiles, particularly SCFA profiles, leading to chronic colon and liver inflammation.
IMPORTANCE
Emerging evidence suggests that environmental toxicants may influence inflammation-promoted chronic disease susceptibility during early life. BPA, an environmental endocrine disruptor, can transfer across the placenta and accumulate in fetal gut and liver. However, underlying mechanisms for BPA-induced colonic and liver inflammation are not fully elucidated. In this report, we show how perinatal BPA exposure in rabbits alters gut microbiota and their metabolite profiles, which leads to colonic and liver inflammation as well as to increased gut permeability as measured by elevated serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels in the offspring. Also, perinatal BPA exposure leads to reduced levels of gut bacterial diversity and bacterial metabolites (short-chain fatty acids [SCFA]) and elevated gut permeability-three common early biomarkers of inflammation-promoted chronic diseases. In addition, we showed that SCFA ameliorated BPA-induced intestinal permeability in vitro. Thus, our study results suggest that correcting environmental toxicant-induced bacterial dysbiosis early in life may reduce the risk of chronic diseases later in life.
Sources
- Perinatal Bisphenol A Exposure Induces Chronic Inflammation in Rabbit Offspring via Modulation of Gut Bacteria and Their Metabolite, msystems asm, DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00093-17, 2017 Oct.
- Exposure to chemical during pregnancy may cause health problems for offspring, The Pennsylvania State University, story/491849, November 8, 2017.
- Microbial responses to the perinatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure in rabbit offspring featured image credit PMC5634791/figure/fig2, 2017 Oct 10.