Reconsidering the Use of Dimethyl Sulfoxide for Xenobiotic-Gut Microbiota Interaction Studies.

Introduction: Gut microbiota are vulnerable to foreign chemicals (xenobiotics) including pharmaceuticals, environmental pollutants, and dietary contaminants such as aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and fumonisin B1 (FB1). Assessing the effect of these xenobiotics in the laboratory requires their dissolution in a solvent vehicle, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). While DMSO is typically used at low concentrations under the assumption of neutrality, its independent impact on microbial dynamics is a potential experimental confounder that has not been fully explored. Methods: Human fecal microbiota were cultivated Results: DMSO significantly altered microbial metabolism and drove the consistent enrichment of Discussion: These findings demonstrate that DMSO can induce significant microbial shifts independent of the xenobiotics under study, potentially confounding biological interpretations. This highlights a critical need for rigorous vehicle validation and the identification of safe thresholds for solvents used in microbiota research.