Nickel exposure induces gut microbiome disorder and serum uric acid elevation

Overview

This Environmental Pollution paper from Lanzhou University investigates the mechanism linking long-term occupational nickel exposure to elevated serum uric acid by combining biomarker measurements with gut-microbiome 16S rRNA sequencing in a 109-participant cohort of Ni-exposed workers and matched controls. Serum Ni was significantly elevated in the exposure group (5.70 ± 3.21 µg/L versus controls), serum uric acid was significantly elevated (355.95 ± 67.87 µmol/L), and the abundances of uric-acid-lowering bacteria were significantly diminished in the exposure group. The authors propose that intestinal degradation of purine to uric acid is disturbed by nickel-driven gut microbiome perturbation, producing the observed serum uric acid elevation.

Key numbers

The mechanism proposed in the paper: excessive nickel disrupts gut microbiota composition; uric-acid-lowering bacteria (Lactobacillus and related taxa) are diminished; intestinal purine-to-uric-acid degradation is impaired; serum uric acid rises. The paper is the first cohort-level human evidence linking dietary or occupational Ni body burden to a microbiome-mediated metabolic endpoint.

Methods (brief)

109-participant cohort with Ni-exposed and control groups. Serum Ni quantified by ICP-MS. Gut microbiota characterized by 16S rRNA sequencing. Statistical comparisons used standard cohort-comparison tests for serum Ni, uric acid, and microbial taxon abundances.

Implications

• Certification: Mechanistic support for the EFSA 2020 dietary Ni TDI by demonstrating a microbiome-mediated metabolic pathway from elevated body Ni to a clinically meaningful endpoint (serum uric acid elevation, a hyperuricemia / gout risk factor). Useful when contextualizing why dietary Ni at chronic exposure matters even at sub-acute levels.
• Microbiome: The first wiki source establishing the Ni-microbiome-metabolic axis with direct human cohort evidence. Crosswalks to WikiBiome as a Ni-specific microbial-axis topic. Lactobacillus and uric-acid-lowering Bacteroidota taxa flagged as Ni-sensitive.
• Courses: Useful for teaching the metals-to-microbiome-to-metabolic-disease chain.

Wiki pages updated on ingest

• Nickel
• nickel-uric-acid-axis

Update history

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