Dietary Exposure to Antibiotic Residues Facilitates Metabolic Disorder by Altering the Gut Microbiota and Bile Acid Composition

Abstract

Antibiotics used as growth promoters in livestock and animal husbandry can be detected in animal-derived food. Epidemiological studies have implicated that exposure to these antibiotic residues in food may be associated to childhood obesity. Herein, the effect of exposure to residual dose of tylosin--an antibiotic growth promoter--on host metabolism and gut microbiota was explored in vivo. Theoretical maximal daily intake (TMDI) doses of tylosin were found to facilitate high-fat diet-induced obesity, induce insulin resistance, and perturb the composition of gut microbiota in mice. The obesity-related phenotypes were transferrable to germ-free recipient mice, indicating that the effects of TMDI dose of tylosin on obesity and insulin resistance occurred mainly via alteration of the gut microbiota. Tylosin TMDI exposure restricted to early life, which is the critical period of gut microbiota development, altered the abundance of specific bacteria related to host metabolic homeostasis later in life. Moreover, early-life exposure to tylosin TMDI was sufficient to modify the ratio of primary to secondary bile acids, thereby inducing lasting metabolic consequences via the downstream FGF15 signaling pathway. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that exposure to very low dose of antibiotic residues, whether continuously or in early life, can exert long-lasting effects on host metabolism by altering gut microbiota and its metabolites. ImportanceEvidence has indicated that chronic exposure to antibiotic residues in food could contribute to obesity. However, few studies have investigated the effect of chronic exposure to very low-dose antibiotic residue in food (~1000-fold lower than the therapeutic dose) on gut microbiota and host metabolism. Our study demonstrates that even with limited exposure in early life, a residual dose of tylosin causes lasting metabolic disturbances through altering gut microbiota and its metabolites. Our findings reveal that the gut microbiota is susceptible to previously ignored environmental factors.