Impact of Ex Vivo Bisphenol A Exposure on Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis and Its Association with Childhood Obesity Luque Aguilera, Gracia Ortiz Sandoval, Pilar Torres Sánchez, Alfonso Ruiz Rodríguez, Alicia López Moreno, Ana Aguilera Gómez, Margarita Ex vivo BPA exposure Microbiota taxa Dysbiosis Obesity This research was funded by several projects: Junta de Andalucía - Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e Innovación - Excellence Project PI21/0341. Institute of Health Carlos III: PI24/00046. G.L. has a contract under the Project PI21/0341; A.R.-R. holds a contract under RYC2023-044386-I, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FSE+. Supplementary Materials. The following supporting information can be downloaded at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA979040 Dietary exposure to the plasticiser bisphenol A (BPA), an obesogenic and endocrine disruptor from plastic and epoxy resin industries, remains prevalent despite regulatory restriction and food safety efforts. BPA can be accumulated in humans and animals, potentially exerting differential health effects based on individual metabolic capacity. This pilot study examines the impact of direct ex vivo BPA exposure on the gut microbiota of obese and normal-weight children, using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and anaerobic culturing combined methods. Results showed that direct xenobiotic exposure induced modifications in microbial taxa relative abundance, community structure, and diversity. Specifically, BPA reduced the abundance of bacteria belonging to the phylum Bacteroidota, while taxa from the phylum Actinomycetota were promoted. Consistently, Bacteroides species were classified as sensitive to BPA, whereas bacteria belonging to the class Clostridia were identified as resistant to BPA in our culturomics analysis. Some of the altered bacterial abundance patterns were common for both the BPA-exposed groups and the obese non-exposed group in our pilot study. These findings were also corroborated in a larger cohort of children. Future research will be essential to evaluate these microbial taxa as potential biomarkers for biomonitoring the effect of BPA and its role as an obesogenic substance in children. 2025-03-18T08:51:41Z 2025-03-18T08:51:41Z 2025-01-17 journal article Luque, G.; Ortiz, P.; Torres-Sánchez, A.; Ruiz-Rodríguez, A.; López-Moreno, A.; Aguilera, M. Impact of Ex Vivo Bisphenol A Exposure on Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis and Its Association with Childhood Obesity. J. Xenobiot. 2025, 15, 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/jox15010014 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/103144 10.3390/jox15010014 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI