Ambient long-term exposure to organophosphorus pesticides and the human gut microbiome: an observational study
Abstract
Background Organophosphorus pesticides (OP) have been associated with various human health conditions. Animal experiments and in-vitro models suggested that OP may also affect the gut microbiota. We examined associations between ambient chronic exposure to OP and gut microbial changes in humans. Methods We recruited 190 participants from a community-based epidemiologic study of Parkinson’s disease living in a region known for heavy agricultural pesticide use in California. Of these, 61% of participants had Parkinson’s disease and their mean age was 72 years. Microbiome and predicted metagenome data were generated by 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples. Ambient long-term OP exposures were assessed using pesticide application records combined with residential addresses in a geographic information system. We examined gut microbiome differences due to OP exposures, specifically differences in microbial diversity based on the Shannon index and Bray–Curtis dissimilarities, and differential taxa abundance and predicted Metacyc pathway expression relying on regression models and adjusting for potential confounders. Results OP exposure was not associated with alpha or beta diversity of the gut microbiome. However, the predicted metagenome was sparser and less evenly expressed among those highly exposed to OP ( p = 0.04). Additionally, we found that the abundance of two bacterial families, 22 genera, and the predicted expression of 34 Metacyc pathways were associated with…
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