A review of the impact of xenobiotics from dietary sources on infant health: Early life exposures and the role of the microbiota

Xenobiotics are worldwide distributed and humans are unavoidably exposed to multiple chemical compounds during life, from preconception to adulthood. The human microbiota is mainly settled during early life and modulate host health and fitness. One of the main routes for chemical exposure is by intake of contaminated food and water. Thus, the interplay between diet-xenobiotics-microbiota during pregnancy and perinatal period may have relevant consequences for infant and adult health. Maternal exposure to metal(oid)s, persistent organic pollutants, and some food additives can modify the infant's microbiota with unknown consequences for child or adult health. Toxicants' exposure may also modulate the maternal transfer of microorganisms to the progeny during birth and breastfeeding; however, scarce information is available. The rapid increase in releasing novel chemicals to the environment, the exposure to chemical mixtures, the chronic/low dose scenario, and the delay in science-stakeholders action call for novel and groundbreaking approaches to improve a comprehensive risk assessment in sensitive population groups like pregnant women and neonates, with emphasis on microbiota as modulating factor and target-organ of xenobiotic's toxicity.

Perinatal environment shapes microbiota colonization and infant growth: impact on host response and intestinal function

BACKGROUND

Early microbial colonization triggers processes that result in intestinal maturation and immune priming. Perinatal factors, especially those associated with birth, including both mode and place of delivery are critical to shaping the infant gut microbiota with potential health consequences.

METHODS

Gut microbiota profile of 180 healthy infants (n = 23 born at home and n = 157 born in hospital, 41.7% via cesarean section [CS]) was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing at birth, 7 days, and 1 month of life. Breastfeeding habits and infant clinical data, including length, weight, and antibiotic exposure, were collected up to 18 months of life. Long-term personalized in vitro models of the intestinal epithelium and innate immune system were used to assess the link between gut microbiota composition, intestinal function, and immune response.

RESULTS

Microbiota profiles were shaped by the place and mode of delivery, and they had a distinct biological impact on the immune response and intestinal function in epithelial/immune cell models. Bacteroidetes and Bifidobacterium genus were decreased in C-section infants, who showed higher z-scores BMI and W/L during the first 18 months of life. Intestinal simulated epithelium had a stronger epithelial barrier function and intestinal maturation, alongside a higher immunological response (TLR4 route activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine release), when exposed to home-birth fecal supernatants, compared with CS. Distinct host response could be associated with different microbiota profiles.

CONCLUSIONS

Mode and place of birth influence the neonatal gut microbiota, likely shaping its interplay with the host through the maturation of the intestinal epithelium, regulation of the intestinal epithelial barrier, and control of the innate immune system during early life, which can affect the phenotypic responses linked to metabolic processes in infants.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT03552939 . Video Abstract.

A comparison of fibre counting across three European national proficiency testing schemes

Proficiency testing (PT) schemes seek to improve and maintain consistency in asbestos fibre counting by circulating mounted samples to laboratories, which return counts for comparison with consensus reference values. This study compares the level of these consensus values in three (Spanish, Belgian and UK) national PT schemes. It also assesses the effect of the imminent change in the European standard rules for counting asbestos fibres, to the new rules from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which will include more fibres. Forty samples from the three schemes were circulated to six laboratories, two in each national scheme. The UK and Spanish laboratories counted using both the ERM and the WHO method. Belgian laboratories already use the WHO method, and they counted only by this method. Densities from counts in this sample exchange served as a common basis against which we compared the national reference values (R). This produced a geometric overall mean ratio of R to exchange mean density of 0.94 for the UK scheme, 1.01 for the Spanish and 0.97 for the Belgian scheme, and thus indicated remarkably similar levels. Nevertheless, non-trivial systematic inter-laboratory differences confirmed the need for regular PT and international inter-laboratory comparisons. Examination of previous data from the national PT schemes and from an international scheme (AFRICA) provided further comparisons for the same laboratories (either comparing the laboratory's data with R values or making direct comparisons between laboratories) that are consistent with those from this special exchange. The change in fibre counting rule (to include fibres apparently touching particles with diameter >3 microm) produced mean increases in reported densities that ranged among samples from 0 to 70% (highest individual estimate 170%); the effect was broadly similar for the three schemes. The laboratories gave mostly similar estimates of percentage increase; however, one laboratory occasionally produced high estimates indicating a possible need for training for using the new method.

A proposal for harmonising laboratory performance assessment criteria in national asbestos fibre counting schemes

Four European national asbestos fibre counting proficiency testing schemes have been studied in order to compare their criteria for the assessment of laboratory performance. Performance assessment is based on each laboratory's results after counting a certain number of samples. Two methods are currently being applied. To be classified 'satisfactory' laboratories must obtain at least 75% of normalised counts lying within defined performance limits (in three schemes), or the median and coefficient of variation of normalised counts must be within performance limits (in the fourth scheme). Differences in the numbers of test samples mean that the schemes are operating with different selectivity in assessing their laboratories' performances. Differences in the percentage of laboratory results falling within performance limits indicate that the schemes do not operate the same confidence probability in correctly assessing individual counts. It means that some schemes may be more lenient than others. This paper discusses two proposals to move towards harmonisation of the asbestos fibre counting proficiency testing schemes: (i) standardisation of the number of samples used for laboratory assessment and (ii) changes to the criteria to establish the limits of satisfactory performance.

Biochemical changes of the synovial liquid in corpses with regard to the cause of death. 1: Calcium, inorganic phosphorus, glucose, cholesterol, urea nitrogen, uric acid, proteins, and albumin

We present in this work a study about biochemical changes of the synovial liquid in 100 corpses with regard to the cause of death. The results obtained in the different groups of causes of death show that the biochemical parameters were modified postmortem although we think that this modification is related more directly to the duration of the pathological process that leads to death than with the nature of the process itself.

Biochemical changes of the synovial liquid of corpses with regard to the cause of death. 2: Alkaline phosphatase, lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), and glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (GOT)

We studied the activity of various enzymes in the synovial liquid of 100 corpses with regard to the cause of death finding that the alkaline phospatase and glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (GOT) are increased in cranioencephalic trauma, possibly as a result of the important cellular lysis which goes with them; and lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) is increased in the pulmonary processes, almost certainly with relation to the great quantity of this enzyme in the lung.