Chronic Arsenic Exposure Perturbs Gut Microbiota and Bile Acid Homeostasis in Mice

Abstract

Arsenic exposure can perturb gut microbiota and their metabolic functions. We exposed C57BL/6 mice to 1 ppm arsenic in drinking water and investigated whether arsenic exposure affects the homeostasis of bile acids, a group of key microbiome-regulated signaling molecules of microbiome–host interactions. We found that arsenic exposure differentially changed major unconjugated primary bile acids and consistently decreased secondary bile acids in the serum and liver. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes was associated with the bile acid level in serum. This study demonstrates that arsenic-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis may play a role in arsenic-perturbed bile acid homeostasis