Effects of typical persistent organic pollutants on intestinal microorganisms and host health.

Studies have shown that the "organ" of intestinal microorganisms plays a variety of functions, including material metabolism, biological barriers, immune regulation and host defense, and that gut microbes not only help the host absorb nutrients from food, but also synthesize amino acids, organic acids, vitamins, antibiotics and other products for host use, and can metabolize the resulting toxins to reduce the toxicity to the host.
different diets and lifestyles have a big impact on the host gut microbiome, such as a high-fat diet that can lead to a reduction or even disappearance of beneficial Bifidobacteria.
therefore, there is a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship between intestinal microorganisms and the host, which plays an important role in maintaining the host's health.
the Environmental Molecular Toxicology Research Group of the Institute of Urban Environment research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Dong Sijun Team) focuses on the effects of typical persistent organic pollutants on intestinal microorganisms and host health in view of the complexity and high exposure of environmental factors in the current rapid urbanization process.
gut microbial ecology has important effects on the evolution of urban environmental quality and ecological health effects.
the research of PCBs-related pollutants, clarified the correlation between intestinal microbiome disorders and health risks of the body, and screened out the characteristic strains (biomarkers) associated with PCBs contamination, which are of great significance for the treatment of PCBs-induced diseases.
also studied the effects of PCBs on gut microbes and host health when PCBs coexisted with other environmental factors (high-fat diets), and the results showed that (1) PCBs, as a common lipophilic pollutant, inevitably coexisted with high-fat diets; S can lead to an increase in the proportion of host fat, hypertrophy of abdominal subcutaneous fat cells, and an increase in the expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, iNOS and IL-6);
published in Sci.Total.Environ.2019.653, 274-282 and Environ.Pollut.2018.239, 332-341, respectively.
Chi-Chiand Lin Yi are co-first authors, and Dong Sijun is the author of the newsletter.
the research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Fujian Natural Science Foundation, and the Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Source: Urban Environment Institute.