Summary: | Endocrine disruptors (EDCs) are chemicals that interfere with the endocrine system. EDC exposure may contribute to the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases by impacting the composition of an infant’s gut microbiota during the first 1000 days of life. To explore the relationship between maternal urinary levels of Bisphenol-A and phthalates (UHPLC-MS/MS), and the composition of the infant gut microbiota (16S rDNA) at age 12 months (T<sub>3</sub>) and, retrospectively, at birth (T<sub>0</sub>), 1 month (T<sub>1</sub>), and 6 months (T<sub>2</sub>), stool samples from 20 infants breastfed at least once a day were analyzed. Metataxonomic bacteria relative abundances were correlated with EDC values. Based on median Bisphenol-A levels, infants were assigned to the over-exposed group (O, n = 8) and the low-exposed group (B, n = 12). The B-group exhibited higher gut colonization of the <i>Ruminococcus torques</i> group genus and the O-group showed higher abundances of <i>Erysipelatoclostridium</i> and <i>Bifidobacterium breve</i>. Additionally, infants were stratified as high-risk (HR, n = 12) or low-risk (LR, n = 8) exposure to phthalates, based on the presence of at least three phthalates with concentrations exceeding the cohort median values; no differences were observed in gut microbiota composition. A retrospective analysis of gut microbiota (T<sub>0</sub>–T<sub>2</sub>) revealed a disparity in β-diversity between the O-group and the B-group. Considering T<sub>0</sub>–T<sub>3</sub>, the Linear Discriminant Effect Size indicated differences in certain microbes between the O-group vs. the B-group and the HR-group vs. the LR-group. Our findings support the potential role of microbial communities as biomarkers for high EDC exposure levels. Nevertheless, further investigations are required to deeply investigate this issue.
|