ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2019
Zinc Deficiency During Pregnancy Leads to Altered Microbiome and Elevated Inflammatory Markers in Mice.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metal Dyshomeostasis as a Driver of Gut Pathology in Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Pooled it
- Gut microbiota bridges dietary nutrients and host immunity.Science China. Life sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Eyes on Development: Exploring the Impact of Early Life Nutrition Exposures on Child Cognition Through Eye-Tracking Assessment.Nutrition reviews · 2026Article
- Review
- Inflammaging and the role of micronutrients as immunomodulators: a pathway to healthy aging.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2026Review
- Food-derived molecules as regulators of intestinal tight junctions and barrier function: mechanisms and implications.Frontiers in drug delivery · 2026Review
- Zinc in eye health, retinal biology and disease.Progress in retinal and eye research · 2025Review
- The exploitation of nutrient metals by bacteria for survival and infection in the gut.PLoS pathogens · 2025Review
- Magnesium and Zinc in Schizophrenia.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Zinc and Cobalt exposure influencebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Investigating zinc's role in mitigating blood lead levels' toxicity on gut microbiota diversity: NHANES 2007-2010.Toxicology letters · 2025Article
- Trace Element Exposure during Pregnancy Has a Persistent Influence on Perinatal Gut Microbiota in Mother-Infant Dyads.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota, nutrients, and depression.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Review
- Impact of Novel Foods on the Human Gut Microbiome: Current Status.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Intestinal Barrier Impairment Induced by Gut Microbiome and Its Metabolites in School-Age Children with Zinc Deficiency.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Prenatal metal exposures and childhood gut microbial signatures are associated with depression score in late childhood.The Science of the total environment · 2024Article
- Pharmacological Activation of TRPC6 Channel Prevents Colitis Progression.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Modulation of the Gut Microbiota by Nutrition and Its Relationship to Epigenetics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Nutrition at the Intersection between Gut Microbiota Eubiosis and Effective Management of Type 2 Diabetes.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Broadening horizons: intestinal microbiota as a novel biomarker and potential treatment for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Zinc is an essential trace metal for bacteria of the intestinal flora. Approximately 20% of dietary zinc - intake is used by intestinal bacteria. The microbiome has recently been described as an important factor for healthy brain function via so-called gut-brain interactions. Similarly, zinc deficiency has been associated with neurological problems such as depression, mental lethargy and cognitive impairments in humans and animal models. However, the underlying pathomechanisms are currently not well understood and a link between zinc deficiency and altered microbiota composition has not been studied. Especially during pregnancy, women may be prone to low zinc status. Thus, here, we investigate whether zinc deficiency alters gut-brain interaction in pregnant mice by triggering changes in the microbiome. To that end, pregnant mice were fed different diets being zinc-adequate, deficient in zinc, or adequate in zinc but high in zinc uptake antagonists for 8 weeks. Our results show that acute zinc-deficient pregnant mice and pregnant mice on a diet high in zinc uptake antagonists have an altered composition of gastro-intestinal (GI) microbiota. These changes were accompanied by alterations in markers for GI permeability. Within the brain, we found signs of neuroinflammation. Interestingly, microbiota composition, gut pathology, and inflammatory cytokine levels were partially rescued upon supplementation of mice with zinc amino-acid conjugates (ZnAA). We conclude that zinc deficiency may contribute to abnormal gut-brain signaling by altering gut physiology, microbiota composition and triggering an increase of inflammatory markers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.