The microbial soy metabolite S-equol mitigates cadmium neurotoxicity in mice
- 1Oregon State University
Abstract
Environmental exposures are major but understudied determinants of chronic disease. Cadmium is a pervasive toxic metal encountered through diet and tobacco smoke that has been associated with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease mortality, yet strategies to mitigate its neurotoxicity remain limited. S-equol is a gut microbial metabolite of soy daidzein that crosses the blood brain barrier and preferentially activates estrogen receptor beta. Here, we show that cadmium disrupts an axis linking the equol producing gut bacterium Adlercreutzia equolifaciens to circulating S-equol and hippocampal estrogen receptor expression in mice, that S-equol attenuates cadmium-induced cytotoxicity and restores neuronal, glutamatergic and synaptic transcriptional programs in mouse neural progenitor cells, and that circulating S-equol in older humans is lower in apolipoprotein E4 carriers and covaries with body mass index, identifying S-equol as a microbiome-derived, host-modulated candidate countermeasure against cadmium neurotoxicity.
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BibTeX
@misc{suh2026microbial,
title = {{The microbial soy metabolite S-equol mitigates cadmium neurotoxicity in mice}},
author = {Y. Suh and H. Wang and L. Li and H. Gu and J. Johnson-Martinez and A. Magis and S. Gibbons and J. Y. Cui},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.01.756095},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.756095v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The microbial soy metabolite S-equol mitigates cadmium neurotoxicity in mice
AU - Y. Suh
AU - H. Wang
AU - L. Li
AU - H. Gu
AU - J. Johnson-Martinez
AU - A. Magis
AU - S. Gibbons
AU - J. Y. Cui
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.01.756095
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.756095v1
AB - Environmental exposures are major but understudied determinants of chronic disease. Cadmium is a pervasive toxic metal encountered through diet and tobacco smoke that has been associated with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease mortality, yet strategies to mitigate its neurotoxicity remain limited. S-equol is a gut microbial metabolite of soy daidzein that crosses the blood brain barrier and preferentially activates estrogen receptor beta. Here, we show that cadmium disrupts an axis linking the equol producing gut bacterium Adlercreutzia equolifaciens to circulating S-equol and hippocampal estrogen receptor expression in mice, that S-equol attenuates cadmium-induced cytotoxicity and restores neuronal, glutamatergic and synaptic transcriptional programs in mouse neural progenitor cells, and that circulating S-equol in older humans is lower in apolipoprotein E4 carriers and covaries with body mass index, identifying S-equol as a microbiome-derived, host-modulated candidate countermeasure against cadmium neurotoxicity.
ER -