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Cigarette Smoke Exposure in Mice using a Whole-Body Inhalation System
Published on: October 22, 2020
The effect of cigarette smoking on the oral and nasal microbiota
Guoqin Yu1, Stephen Phillips2, Mitchell H Gail3
1Genetic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 6E508, Bethesda, MD, 20892-9769, USA. yug3@mail.nih.gov.
Background:
The goal of the study was to investigate whether cigarette smoking alters oral and nasal microbial diversity, composition, and structure. Twenty-three current smokers and 20 never smokers were recruited. From each subject, nine samples including supra and subgingiva plaque scrapes, saliva, swabs from five soft oral tissue sites, and one nasal swab from both the anterior nares were collected. 16S rRNA V3-V4 region was sequenced for microbial profiles.
Results:
We found that alpha diversity was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers in the buccal mucosa, but in other sample sites, microbial diversity and composition were not significantly different by smoking status. Microbial profiles differed significantly among eight oral sites.
Conclusions:
This study investigates the effect of cigarette smoking on different sites of the oral cavity and shows a potential effect of cigarette smoking on the buccal mucosa microbiota. The marked heterogeneity of the oral microbial ecosystem that we found may contribute to the stability of the oral microbiota in most sites when facing environmental perturbations such as that caused by cigarette smoking.
