Co-exposure to Polyethylene Fiber and Salmonella enterica Typhimurium Alters Microbiome and Metabolome of in vitro Chicken Cecal Mesocosms.

Researching the exposome, a summation of exposure of one's lifespan, will aid in determining the environmental factors that contribute to disease states. There is an emerging concern that microplastic-pathogen interactions in the gastrointestinal tract of broiler chickens may lead to an increase in infection across flocks and eventually increased incidence of human salmonellosis cases. In this research article, we elucidated the effects of co-exposure to polyethylene microplastics and serovar Typhimurium on the ceca microbial community. presence caused strong shifts in the cecal metabolome but not the microbiome. The inverse was true for polyethylene fiber. Polyethylene powder had almost no effect. The co-exposure had worse effects than either alone. This demonstrates that exposure effects to the gut microbial community are contaminant specific. When combined, the interactions between exposures exacerbate changes to the gut environment. The results herein support current mitigation efforts and understanding microplastics-pathogen interactions.