Background

Exposure to air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM), represents a growing health problem. The aim of our study was to investigate whether PM could induce a dysbiosis in the nasal microbiota in terms of α-diversity and taxonomic composition.

Methods

We investigated structure and characteristics of the microbiota of 40 healthy subjects through metabarcoding analysis of the V3–V4 regions of the 16s rRNA gene. Exposure to PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 was assessed with a personal sampler worn for 24 h before sample collection (Day −1) and with measurements from monitoring stations (from Day −2 to Day −7).

Results

We found an inverse association between PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 levels of the 3rd day preceding sampling (Day −3) and α-diversity indices (Chao1, Shannon and PD_whole_tree). Day −3 PM was inversely associated also with the majority of analyzed taxa, except for Moraxella, which showed a positive association. In addition, subjects showed different structural profiles identifying two groups: one characterized by an even community and another widely dominated by the Moraxella genus.

Conclusions

Our findings support the role of PM exposure in influencing microbiota and altering the normal homeostasis within the bacterial community. Whether these alterations could have a role in disease development and/or exacerbation needs further research.

中文翻译：

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短期颗粒物暴露影响健康受试者群体的鼻微生物群

背景

暴露于空气污染物（例如颗粒物（PM））代表着日益严重的健康问题。我们的研究目的是就α多样性和生物分类组成方面研究PM是否可引起鼻腔菌群失调。

方法

通过对16s rRNA基因的V3-V4区进行元条形码分析，我们研究了40名健康受试者的微生物群的结构和特征。在样品采集之前（第-1天）佩戴个人采样器24小时，并从监测站进行测量（第-2天至第--7天），评估PM ₁₀和PM _2.5的暴露水平。

结果

我们发现采样前第三天（第-3天）的PM ₁₀和PM _2.5含量与α多样性指数（Chao1，Shannon和PD_whole_tree）之间呈负相关。第-3天下午与大多数分析的分类单元也呈负相关，但莫拉氏菌除外，后者呈正相关。此外，受试者表现出不同的结构特征，可将其分为两组：一组以均匀的群落为特征，另一组以莫拉氏菌属为主导。

结论

我们的发现支持了PM暴露在影响微生物群和改变细菌群落内正常体内平衡方面的作用。这些改变是否可能在疾病发展和/或恶化中起作用，尚需进一步研究。