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Abstract
Nicotine exposure from tobacco smoke and electronic cigarettes has become a major public health problem. As both nicotine and gut microbiome are known to mediate metabolism in the body, it is of interest to know how nicotine exposure can affect the gut microbiome and the serum metabolite profile. Male and female C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 6 mg/L (low dose) and 60 mg/L (high dose) nicotine in drinking water for 13 weeks. High dose had a more different gut microbial profile and more changes to the serum metabolite profile than low dose. 16S rRNA sequencing found nicotine changed gut microbial community structure mainly at the family and genus level, with some gender differences. Gas-chromatography mass spectrometry serum profiling found gender-differences to changes in several metabolites. Our results are the first to exclusively look at the effects of nicotine on the mice gut microbiome and the serum metabolite profile.