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. 2025 Oct 17:15:1682969.
doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1682969. eCollection 2025.

Battery pollutant leakage disrupts antioxidant ability and gut microbial homeostasis of chickens

Xinxi Qin  1   2   3   4 , Shuai Song  1   2   3 , Guoqing Xiang  1   2   3 , Shengmin Wang  5 , Shengjun Luo  1   2   3 , Caijuan Yang  6 , Xiaohui Wen  1   2   3
Affiliations

Battery pollutant leakage disrupts antioxidant ability and gut microbial homeostasis of chickens

Xinxi Qin et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. .

Abstract

Over the past few decades, battery industry and electronic equipment have undergone explosive growth, but the heavy metal waste generated has led to significant global ecological and public health challenges. Currently, increasing evidences have confirmed the detrimental effects of heavy metal exposure on animal reproduction, immunity, and metabolism. However, research focused on the impacts of battery leakage on the gut microbiota remain scarce. Thus, this study aims to investigate the detrimental effects of battery on gut microbiota in chickens. Results revealed that battery exposure can lead to a significant increase in spleen index and a significant decrease in thymus index in chickens. Furthermore, battery exposure can significantly increase serum ALT, AST and MDA levels, and while concurrently reducing levels of GSH-Px and SOD. Battery exposure also cause a significant reduction in the gut microbial alpha diversity, accompanied by significant alterations in taxonomic composition. Bacterial taxonomic analysis indicated that the relative abundances of 1 phyla and 4 genera increased dramatically, while the relative abundance of 3 phylum and 115 genera decreased significantly during battery exposure. In conclusion, this study suggests that battery exposure leads to gut microbial dysbiosis and affect antioxidant ability in chickens. The significant alterations of gut microbiota may represent one of the mechanisms through which battery exerts its intestinal and renal toxicity. Given the context of battery pollutant leakage and inadequate recycling supervision, this study contributes to providing impetus for environmental protection agencies and organizations worldwide to enhance the recycling of battery waste.

Keywords: battery; chicken; diversity; gut microbiota; pollutant.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author SW was employed by Zhejiang Hisun Animal Healthcare Products Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of battery exposure on growth performance-related parameters in broiler chickens. (A) average daily gain; (B) average daily feed intake; (C) food conversion ratio; (D) Body weight; (E) spleen index; (F) bursa of fabricius index, (G) thymus index. The data was expressed as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of battery exposure on serum biochemical parameters in broiler chickens. (A) ALT; (B) AST; (C) MDA; (D) GSH-Px; (E) SOD; (F) T-AOC, (G) CAT. The data was expressed as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of battery exposure on the diversity of gut microbiota. (A-C) The number of OTUs generated from valid sequences. (D-F) Feasibility analysis of the results obtained from gut microbiota sequencing.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of battery exposure on the diversity of gut microbiota in broiler chickens. (A-D) The ACE, Chao1, Shannon and Simpson indices were used for comparing the diversity and abundance. (E, F) PCoA scatter plots were generated to visualize the differences in the structure of gut microbiota. The data was expressed as mean ± SD.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of battery leakage on gut microbiota of broiler chickens. (A) phyla leval. (B) genus level. Each bar represents the average relative abundance of each bacterial taxon within a group.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cluster heat map analysis of gut microbiota. The relative abundance of gut microbiota is positively correlated with color depth. The values in the heat map represent the square-root-transformed relative abundance of each bacterial genus. The intensity of color in the heat map corresponds to the square-root-transformed values of the bacterial genera, with the legend located in the upper right corner of the figure.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Metastats analysis was used to identify differential taxa at the phylum (A) and genus (B) levels. The data was expressed as mean ± SD. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The differential taxa at phyla and genus levels were visualized by LEfSe analysis. (A) Evolutionary relationships of different species at different taxonomic levels. (B) LDA values ≥ 4 were set as the identification criteria for differential bacteria.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Correlation analysis of intestinal flora. The correlation between bacteria is shown by line segments. The thickness of the lines indicates the strength of the correlations, where orange lines represent positive correlations.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effects of battery exposure on intestinal function in broiler chickens analyzed by KEGG (A) and COG (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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