1. Mycophenolate Improves Brain–Gut Axis Inducing Remodeling of Gut Microbiota in DOCA-Salt Hypertensive Rats
- Author
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Iñaki Robles-Vera, Néstor de la Visitación, Manuel Sánchez, Manuel Gómez-Guzmán, Rosario Jiménez, Javier Moleón, Cristina González-Correa, Miguel Romero, Tao Yang, Mohan K. Raizada, Marta Toral, and Juan Duarte
- Subjects
mycophenolate ,gut dysbiosis ,hypertension ,oxidative stress ,inflammation ,(deoxycorticosterone acetate) DOCA-salt model ,Therapeutics. Pharmacology ,RM1-950 - Abstract
Microbiota is involved in the host blood pressure (BP) regulation. The immunosuppressive drug mofetil mycophenolate (MMF) ameliorates hypertension. The present study analyzed whether MMF improves dysbiosis in mineralocorticoid-induced hypertension. Male Wistar rats were assigned to three groups: untreated (CTR), deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt, and DOCA treated with MMF for 4 weeks. MMF treatment reduced systolic BP, improved endothelial dysfunction, and reduced oxidative stress and inflammation in aorta. A clear separation in the gut bacterial community between CTR and DOCA groups was found, whereas the cluster belonging to DOCA-MMF group was found to be intermixed. No changes were found at the phylum level among all experimental groups. MMF restored the elevation in lactate-producing bacteria found in DOCA-salt joined to an increase in the acetate-producing bacteria. MMF restored the percentage of anaerobic bacteria in the DOCA-salt group to values similar to control rats. The improvement of gut dysbiosis was associated with an enhanced colonic integrity and a decreased sympathetic drive in the gut. MMF inhibited neuroinflammation in the paraventricular nuclei in the hypothalamus. This study demonstrates for the first time that MMF reduces gut dysbiosis in DOCA-salt hypertension models. This effect seems to be related to its capacity to improve gut integrity due to reduced sympathetic drive in the gut associated with reduced brain neuroinflammation.
- Published
- 2020
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