Four-week administration of nicotinemoderately impacts blood metabolic profile and gut microbiota in a diet-dependent manner.

As the primary active component in tobacco, nicotine affects many aspects of human metabolism. Diet and gut microbiota are key factors that profoundly influence human lipid and glucose metabolism. However, the diet-based differential impacts of nicotine on blood lipid and glucose levels as well as on the gut microbiota are still largely unknown. Here we show that 4-week oral administration of nicotine (2 mg/kg) resulted in bodyweight and fat decrease in both normal-chow (NCD)- and high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. But nicotine showed little influence on the plasma levels of lipids, glucose and inflammatory cytokines in NCD-fed mice but moderately deteriorated these parameters in HFD-fed ones. 16S sequencing showed that nicotine perturbed bacterial diversity and community composition of gut microbiota more pronouncedly in HFD mice. At genus level, nicotine dramatically increased Ruminococcaceae UCG-009 in HFD condition but not in NCD feeding. Interestingly, co-treatment with antibiotics (ampicillin + norfloxacin) substantially abolished the lipid-enhancing effect of nicotine in HFD-fed mice, suggesting an important role of gut microbes in the lipid-modulatory effect of nicotine. Together, our results indicate that the harmful effects of nicotine on metabolism and systemic inflammation are diet-dependent. Chronic exposure to nicotine may alter the gut microbiota especially in HFD-fed animals.