Antibiotics may increase triazine herbicide exposure risk via disturbing gut microbiota

Abstract

BackgroundAntibiotics are commonly used worldwide, and pesticide is a kind of xenobiotic to which humans are frequently exposed. The interactive impact of antibiotics on pesticides has rarely been studied. We aim to investigate the effects of antibiotics on the pesticide exposure risk and whether gut microbiota altered by antibiotics has an influence on pesticide bioavailability. Furthermore, we explored the mechanisms of gut microbiota affecting the fate of pesticides in the host.ResultsThe oral bioavailability of triazine herbicides significantly increased in the rats treated with ampicillin or antibiotic cocktails. The antibiotic-altered gut microbiota directly influenced the increased pesticide bioavailability through downregulating hepatic metabolic enzyme gene expression and upregulating intestinal absorption-related proteins.ConclusionsAntibiotics could increase the pesticide bioavailability and thereby may increase the pesticide exposure risk. The antibiotic-altered gut microbiota that could alter the hepatic metabolic enzyme gene expression and intestinal absorption-related proteome was a critical cause of the increased bioavailability. This study revealed an undiscovered potential health impact of antibiotics and reminded people to consider the co-exposed xenobiotics when taking antibiotics.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40168-018-0602-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut microbiota promotes host endogenous detoxification capability via regulation of P450 gene expression in the digestive tract

“…However, recent studies have shed new light on the collateral damage they impart on the indigenous host‐associated communities (Modi et al , 2014). Zhan et al (Zhan et al , 2018) revealed that the oral bioavailability of triazine herbicides was significantly increased in the rats treated with ampicillin or antibiotic cocktails, which is a consequence of the alteration of hepatic metabolic enzyme gene expression and intestinal absorption‐related proteome. In apiculture, antibiotics are frequently used in bee colonies to prevent bacterial infection.…”

The Effect of Pesticides on the Microbiome of Animals

“…In turn, the intestinal microbiota changed by antibiotics can affect the chemical transformation of xenobiotics in the body [29,30]. Finding the relationship between the effects of antibiotics and pesticides have been conducted where rats with an antibiotic-modified microbiota were exposed to triazine herbicides [31]. The results showed that antibiotic administration reduces the number of bacteria in rats: The relative abundance of Ruminococcaceae species decreased, and the Bacteroides species increased.…”

Psychobiotic Effects of Multi-Strain Probiotics Originated from Thai Fermented Foods in a Rat Model

“…It is known that the use of four mixed antibiotics (ampicillin, neomycin, metronidazole and vancomycin) as an antibiotic cocktail rather than a single antibiotic was able to directly affect gut microbiota in rats by decreasing abundance, modulating community structure, and lowering bacterial diversity and the approach has been established as an antibiotics-treated rat or mice model ( Bruce-Keller et al, 2015 ; Feng et al, 2019 ). In this work, the experimental procedure was carried out as described in Zhan et al (2018) with some modifications. After a 1-week acclimatization period, acquired depletion of colonic microbiota in ANT and PRO groups was shown to be achieved by administering four mixed antibiotics dissolved in water via oral gavage ( Table 1 ) as in the previous work ( Zhan et al., 2018 ).…”

“…Inhibit nucleic acid synthesis. Four mixed antibiotics were prepared according to Zhan et al (2018).…”