Effects of ascorbic acid on intestinal flora and metabolites of C57 mice exposed to formaldehyde in digestive tract

TL;DR

This study shows how ascorbic acid affects gut bacteria and metabolites in mice exposed to formaldehyde, helping to counteract its harmful effects.

Contribution

The study reveals specific microbial and metabolomic changes in mice gut due to formaldehyde and ascorbic acid interactions.

Findings

Formaldehyde exposure reduced specific gut bacteria like Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Lactobacillus.

Ascorbic acid reversed these effects and altered 492 metabolite ions in mice intestines.

A strong correlation was found between gut microbiota and metabolite changes in response to the treatments.

Abstract

The diversity of microbiota and metabolites plays a key role in regulating metabolism, host immune response, neurobehavioral effects and detoxification mechanism in the digestive tract gut. Formaldehyde (FA) affects the gastrointestinal tract and its microbiota, whereas ascorbic acid (VC) improves gut health and selectively promotes microbial growth. In this study, we employed 16S rRNA sequencing and non-targeted metabolomics approaches to investigate these interactions. Our results demonstrated that Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Lactobacillus, Ligilactobacillus, Clostridiales_unclassified, and other microflora significantly decreased following FA exposure, whereas the intestinal flora changed in the exact opposite way following VC administration. And compared with FA group, the number of 492 ions were regulated, in which 382 feature was up-regulated and 304 feature was down-regulated in FA + 150 mg VC group. In addition, a correlation between gut microbiota and metabolites was observed. These results reveal the effects of FA or VC on the gastrointestinal tract and its microbiota, and our understanding in the treatment of FA-induced damage to the digestive tract.

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