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Exposed to Mercury-Induced Oxidative Stress, Changes of Intestinal Microflora, and Association between them in Mice

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Abstract

Twelve Kunming mice were randomly divided into two groups (n = 6), and administered with distilled water containing 0 mg/L and 160 mg/L HgCl2 respectively, with an experimental period of 3 days. Our results showed that mercury exposure significantly reduced weight gain in mice (P < 0.01). Through pathological observation of cecum tissues, significant pathological changes were observed in cecum tissues of mice exposed to mercury. Furthermore, mercury exposure not only significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content in mice (P < 0.01) but also significantly decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (P < 0.01) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH) level in mice (P < 0.01). Furthermore, high-throughput sequencing analysis showed that at the genus level some microbial populations including Clostridiales, Lactobacillus, Treponema, Oscillospira, and Desulfovibrio were significantly increased whereas some microbial populations including S24-7, Acinetobacter, and Staphylococcus were significantly decreased. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that microorganisms were not correlated with biomarkers of oxidative stress. In summary, mercury exposure reduced the growth performance of mice, resulting in gut microbiota alterations, and led to oxidative stress by increasing the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreasing the concentration of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH).

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Abbreviations

MDA:

malondialdehyde

GSH:

glutathione peroxidase

SOD:

superoxide dismutase

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Funding

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant (no. 31960723; 31460679 Beijing, P. R. China) awarded to PL and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province grant (no. 20171ACB21026; 2017ACB20012) awarded to PL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory for Animal Health, Institute of Animal Population Health, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

    Yulan Zhao, Changming Zhou, Xiaoquan Guo, Guoliang Hu, Guyue Li, Yu Zhuang, Huabin Cao, Lin Li, Chonghong Xing, Caiying Zhang, Fan Yang & Ping Liu

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  1. Yulan Zhao
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  2. Changming Zhou
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  3. Xiaoquan Guo
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Correspondence to Ping Liu.

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Zhao, Y., Zhou, C., Guo, X. et al. Exposed to Mercury-Induced Oxidative Stress, Changes of Intestinal Microflora, and Association between them in Mice. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 1900–1907 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02300-x

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