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Polystyrene microplastic stress induces adaptive responses and functional remodeling of gastrointestinal microbiota in fattening lambs
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Scientists fed lambs small amounts of polystyrene microplastics (the same type found in packaging and everyday plastics) for 40 days and found it disrupted the balance of gut bacteria throughout their digestive systems, with the small and large intestines affected most. This matters because our gut bacteria play a huge role in digestion, immunity, and overall health, and since microplastics are already showing up in human food and water, this animal study suggests they could similarly throw off our own gut microbiome in ways we don't yet fully understand.
Introduction This study aimed to investigate the effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS MPs) on microbial communities in the rumen, jejunum, ileum, cecum and colon of fattening Hu sheep lambs. Methods The 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing was employed to analyze the gastrointestinal microbial diversity and composition between the control (CON) and microplastic-exposed (MP, 100 μm PS MPs, 150 mg/d per lamb for 40 d) groups, each with 10 lambs. Results Alpha diversity analysis revealed that microplastics exposure slightly reduced the ruminal Shannon index ( p = 0.087), but significantly increased the Chao1 and PD indexes in the ileum, as well as the Shannon and PD indexes in the colon ( p < 0.05). At the phylum level, the CON group exhibited a significantly higher Tenericutes abundance than MP group ( p < 0.05) in the ileum. Compared with CON group, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria was increased by 51.54 and 138.3% in the jejunum and ileum of MP group, respectively (0.05 < p < 0.10). Conversely, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in the cecum (p < 0.05) and colon ( p = 0.056) of MP group was lower than that in CON group, while the Firmicutes and Elusimicrobia relative abundances in the colon were significantly higher in MP group than CON group ( p < 0.05). At the genus level, after microplastics exposure, the relative abundance of unclassified Muribaculaceae showed a decreasing trend in the rumen (0.05 < p < 0.10). In the jejunum of MP group, the pathogenic genus Ralstonia abundance exhibited a slight increase (0.05 < p < 0.10), whereas the Mycoplasma and [Eubacterium] coprostanoligenes group abundances in the ileum were significantly decreased ( p < 0.05). The relative abundance of Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group was decreased in the cecum ( p < 0.05) after microplastics exposure. Discussion Overall, PS MPs induced segment-specific dysbiosis of the gastrointestinal microbiota across multiple intestinal segments in lambs, and the ileum and colon were the most sensitive to microplastics exposure, with their microbial diversity, dominant phyla and genera, and interspecies interactions all being disrupted.
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