The human intestine is host to an enormously complex, diverse, and vast microbial community�the gut microbiota. The gut microbiome plays a profound role in metabolic processing, energy production, immune and cognitive development, epithelial homeostasis, and so forth. Mounting evidence indicates that dysregulated gut microflora contributes in a significant way to a variety of diseases, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, and others. Arsenic exposure affects large human populations worldwide and has been linked to a number of diseases, including cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. However, the interaction between the gut microbiome and arsenic is largely unexplored although oral intake constitutes the major route of arsenic exposure. Here, we present the first evidence to demonstrate that arsenic exposure affects the gut microbiome community and its associated metabolic functions.   Of equal importance, we also show that the gut microbiome structures influence the biotransformation of arsenic. These findings provide novel insights regarding perturbations of the gut microbiome as a potential new mechanism by which arsenic exposure leads to or exacerbates human diseases.

Interaction between the gut microbiome and arsenic exposure

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.