Intestinal Microbiome and Metal Toxicity

Overview

This Current Opinion in Toxicology review by Senait Assefa and Gerwald Köhler (Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology) synthesizes the literature on intestinal microbiome composition and metal toxicity, focusing on the bidirectional relationship between heavy-metal exposure and gut microbial communities. The review covers the mechanisms by which metals alter microbial diversity, taxonomic composition, and functional metabolic output, and how these microbial perturbations feed back to host metal absorption, biotransformation, and excretion. The paper is part of the maturing 2019-2023 metals-and-microbiome literature also represented by Coryell 2019, Zhu 2024, and Ghosh 2024.

Key conclusions

Intestinal microbiome composition and metal toxicity interact bidirectionally. Metal exposure produces consistent microbiota signatures (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium decline; Proteobacteria expansion) overlapping with dysbiosis signatures of multiple chronic disease states. Microbiome composition modulates metal absorption and biotransformation, contributing to inter-individual variation in metal-related health outcomes at equivalent exposure. The review emphasizes the gut microbiome as both target and mediator of metal toxicity, supporting microbiome-modulating interventions as a candidate strategy in metal-exposed populations.

Implications

• Certification: Background context for the microbiome-mediator framework underpinning HMTc threshold rationale.
• Microbiome: Mid-2020 review reference for the metals-and-microbiome axis. Crosswalks to WikiBiome.

Wiki pages updated on ingest

• Lead
• Cadmium
• Arsenic
• Mercury
• Nickel
• metals-microbiota-bidirectional-axis

Update history

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