Early-life herbicides exposure with gut microbiota and neurobehavioral development of hospitalized infants in China

Herbicides exposure has been linked to impaired neurodevelopment and gut microbiome alterations, but their effects on neonates remain insufficiently understood. In a cohort of 216 hospitalized neonates, we measured herbicides concentrations in neonatal peripheral blood plasma, characterized gut microbiota through 16S rRNA sequencing, and conducted neonatal behavioral neurological assessment (NBNA). We assessed herbicides exposure and NBNA scores using generalized linear regression and multi-pollutant models (quantile-based g-computation [QGC] and weighted quantile sum regression). The CTD and GeneCards were used to retrieve target genes for herbicides exposure and neurodevelopmental disorders, followed by enrichment pathway analysis. We examined gut microbime differences due to herbicide exposures, predicted functional pathways using PICRUSt2, and analyzed associations between taxa abundance and NBNA scores with MaAsLin2. Trifluralin, propyzamide, oxadiazon, and fluazifop-butyl were inversely associated with NBNA scores, mainly affecting behavior and passive tone (all P FDR