Alterations in the intestinal microbiome and mental health status of workers in an underground tunnel environment

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-14

study design

prospective cohort

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

33407119

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-020-02056-3

URI

Authors

Lu ZH, Liu YW, Ji ZH, Fu T, Yan M, Shao ZJ, Long Y

Journal

BMC microbiology

Year

2021

Keywords:

16S rRNA, Brain-gut-microbiota axis, Gut microbiome, Mental distress, Underground tunnel environment

BACKGROUND: Working in an underground tunnel environment is unavoidable in professions such as miners and tunnel workers, and there is a concern about the health of these workers. Few studies have addressed alterations in the intestinal microbiome of workers within that environment. RESULTS: Fecal samples were collected from the workers before they entered the tunnel (baseline status, BS) and after they left the tunnel (exposed status, ES), respectively (a time period of 3 weeks between them). We analyzed 16S rRNA sequencing to show the changes in microbial composition and self-evaluation of mental health questionnaire was also performed. The results showed that Shannon and Simpson indices decreased significantly from BS to ES. A higher abundance was found in the phylum Actinobacteria, classes Actinobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria, orders Bifidobacteriales, Coriobacteriales, and Desulfovibrionales, families Bifidobacteriaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Coriobacteriaceae, Clostridiaceae_1, Desulfovibrionaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, and Microbacteriaceae, and genera Bifidobacterium, Romboutsia, Clostridium sensu stricto, and Leucobacter in ES, while BS showed greater levels of genera Faecalibacterium and Roseburia. The self-evaluation showed that at least one-half of the tunnel workers experienced one or more symptoms of mental distress (inattention, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, headache or dizziness, irritability) after working in the underground tunnel environment. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, the underground tunnel environment led to alterations in the intestinal microbiome, which might be relevant to symptoms of mental distress in underground-tunnel workers.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-14

Curated date: 2024/03/21

Curator: Flo

Revision editor(s): Flo

Subjects

Location of subjects: China

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces,feces

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Gut microbiome measurement Gut microbiome measurement,gut microbiome measurement

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Workers before entry into an underground tunnel (Baseline status (BS))

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Workers after entry into an underground tunnel (Exposed status (ES))

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Tunnel workers who spent 3 (three) weeks working in the underground tunnel.

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 48

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 48

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V4-V5

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: LEfSe

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 3.5

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: decreased

Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: unchanged

Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness: decreased

Richness Number of species: unchanged

Signature 1

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Curated date: 2024/03/22

Curator: Flo

Revision editor(s): Flo, Scholastica

Source: Figure 3A, Text (page 3)

Description: LEfSe and LDA analysis revealed changes in the taxonomic composition of the gut microbiota in ES (Exposed status) compared to BS (Baseline status) tunnel workers.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Workers after entry into an underground tunnel (Exposed status (ES))

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Actinomycetota
Bifidobacteriaceae
Bifidobacteriales
Bifidobacterium
Coriobacteriaceae
Coriobacteriales
Deltaproteobacteria
Desulfovibrionaceae
Desulfovibrionales
Leucobacter
Microbacteriaceae
Peptostreptococcaceae
Pseudomonadaceae
Romboutsia
Clostridiaceae_1Clostridiaceae_1
Clostridium

Revision editor(s): Flo, Scholastica

Signature 2

Edit History Delete

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-14

Curated date: 2024/03/22

Curator: Flo

Revision editor(s): Flo

Source: Figure 3A, Text (page 3)

Description: LEfSe and LDA analysis revealed changes in the taxonomic composition of the gut microbiota in ES (Exposed status) compared to BS (Baseline status) tunnel workers.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Workers after entry into an underground tunnel (Exposed status (ES))

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Faecalibacterium
Roseburia

Revision editor(s): Flo