Exploring the impact of traffic-related air pollution on the gut microbiota of school-age children: A pilot study

Over the last few years, investigating the changes of gut microbiota after the exposure to airborne pollution has gained increasing interest, due to the evidence that altered microbial communities may contribute to the development of chronic diseases.The aim of the present pilot study was to investigate the gut microbiota composition of school-age children in relation to their living environment. In particular, the impact of air pollution, diet, body mass index, and environmental tobacco smoke, on the richness and diversity of the gut microbiota of children, was evaluated. The gut microbiota composition of 44 children (10.5 ± 0.62 years) who lived in Lazio district (Italy) was investigated via 16 s rDNA sequencing. The main result was the observation that children living within 500 m from the closest highly trafficked road possessed a highly diverse and rich gut microbiota, as evidenced by the higher alpha-diversity indices (Faith’s phylogenetic and Observed Features diversity) as compared to children exposed to low levels of vehicle traffic, via both uni- and multi- variate analyses (p < 0.05). By using the LEfSe analysis, several bacterial taxa were associated to the gut microbiota of children living near trafficked roads, such as, for example, the genera Anaerotruncus spp. and Acutalibacter spp., linked to chronic diseases for their pro-inflammatory activities. Our findings advance the knowledge on the complex interplay between air pollution and gut microbiota on children health, although long-read sequencing approaches will be helpful to better identify distinct microbial signatures potentially associated to the long-term exposure to air pollution.