Impact of low-level exposure to antibiotics on bile acid homeostasis in adults: Implication for human safety thresholds

Yuanping Wang, Yi Wang, Qi Zhao, Wenjuan Cong, Na Wang, Ke Zhao, Jiaqi Liu, Xiaohua Liu, Genming Zhao, Helen S Lambert, Min Huang*, Hexing Wang*, Yue Chen, Qingwu Jiang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

Abstract

Bile acid homeostasis is critical to human health. Low-level exposure to antibiotics has been suggested to potentially disrupt bile acid homeostasis by affecting gut microbiota, but relevant data are still lacking in humans, especially for the level below human safety threshold. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 4247 Chinese adults by measuring 34 parent antibiotics and their metabolites from six common categories (i.e., tetracyclines, qinolones, macrolides, sulfonamides, phenicols, and lincosamides) and ten representative bile acids in fasting morning urine using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Daily exposure dose of antibiotics was estimated from urinary concentrations of parent antibiotics and their metabolites. Urinary bile acids and their ratios were used to reflect bile acid homeostasis. The estimated daily exposure doses (EDED) of five antibiotic categories with a high detection frequency (i.e., tetracyclines, qinolones, macrolides, sulfonamides, and phenicols) were significantly associated with urinary concentrations of bile acids and decreased bile acid ratios in all adults and the subset of 3898 adults with a cumulative ratio of antibiotic EDED to human safety threshold of less than one. Compared to a negative detection of antibiotics, the lowest EDED quartiles of five antibiotic categories and four individual antibiotics with a high detection frequency (i.e., ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, trimethoprim, and florfenicol) in the adults with a positive detection of antibiotics had a decrease of bile acid ratio between 6.6% and 76.6%. Except for macrolides (1.2×102 ng/kg/day), the medians of the lowest EDED quartile of antibiotic categories and individual antibiotics ranged from 0.32 ng/kg/day to 10 ng/kg/day, which were well below human safety thresholds. These results suggested that low-level antibiotic exposure could disrupt bile acid homeostasis in adults and existing human safety thresholds may be inadequate in safeguarding against the potential adverse health effects of low-level exposure to antibiotics.
Original languageEnglish
Article number116451
Number of pages10
JournalEcotoxicology and environmental safety
Volume279
Early online date17 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Impact of low-level exposure to antibiotics on bile acid homeostasis in adults: Implication for human safety thresholds'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this