Active Smoking Induces Aberrations in Digestive Tract Microbiota of Rats

Abstract

Cigarette smoking could have certain effects on gut microbiota. Some pioneering studies have investigated effects of active smoking on the microbiome in local segments of the digestive tract, while active smoking-induced microbiome alterations in the whole digestive tract have not been fully investigated. Here, we developed a rat model of active smoking and characterized the effects of active smoking on the microbiota within multiple regions along the digestive tract. Blood glucose and some metabolic factors levels, the microbial diversity and composition, relative abundances of taxa, bacterial network correlations and predictive functional profiles were compared between the control group and active smoking group. We found that active smoking induced hyperglycemia and significant reductions in serum insulin and leptin levels. Active smoking induced region-specific shifts in microbiota structure, composition, network correlation and metabolism function along the digestive tract. Our results demonstrated that active smoking resulted in a reduced abundance of some potentially beneficial genera (i.e. Clostridium, Turicibacter) and increased abundance of potentially harmful genera (i.e. Desulfovibrio, Bilophila). Functional prediction suggested that amino acid, lipid, propanoate metabolism function could be impaired and antioxidant activity may be triggered. Active smoking may be an overlooked risk to health through its potential effects on the digestive tract microbiota, which is involved in the cause and severity of an array of chronic diseases.

Cangma Huadu granules attenuate H1N1 virus-induced severe lung injury correlated with repressed apoptosis and altered gut microbiome

“…Turicibacter is a common genus of Firmicutes, which is closely related to lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. As a potential beneficial genus, studies showed that Turicibacter protects the host from chronic and inflammatory diseases (Wang et al, 2021b). Based on these aforementioned findings, we speculated that the mechanism of CMHD granules is related to the alternation of the microbiota structure and some specific microbiota in the intestine.…”

The Impact of Smoking on Microbiota: A Narrative Review

“…Regarding its impact on metabolism, smoking has been related to glucose and lipid disorders [ 64 , 65 ].…”

“…Moreover, the ratio of cholic acid (CA) to chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) was significantly reduced in the liver of mice exposed to cigarette smoke [ 64 ]. Furthermore, smoking induced hyperglycemia and significant reductions in serum insulin and leptin levels [ 65 ].…”

Batch effects removal for microbiome data via conditional quantile regression

“…No DA genera associated with CIG status were found in the original, ComBat-seq, MMUPHin, Percentile, or ConQuR-libsize corrected data (adjusting for HPV status, race, and sexual orientation). In the ConQuR-corrected data, Coprococcus and 1-68 (Tissierellaceae) (adjusted p values < 0.0001, =0.0071) were identified, where Coprococcus has been shown to be significantly decreased by active smoking 42 .…”