Abstract
Previous experiments in animals and humans show that shifts in microbiota and its metabolites are linked to hypertension. The present study investigates whether doxycycline (DOX, a broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic) improves dysbiosis, prevent cardiovascular pathology and attenuate hypertension in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt rats, a renin-independent model of hypertension. Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to three groups: control, DOCA-salt hypertensive rats, DOCA-salt treated with DOX for 4 weeks. DOX decreased systolic blood pressure, improving endothelial dysfunction and reducing aortic oxidative stress and inflammation. DOX decreased lactate-producing bacterial population and plasma lactate levels, improved gut barrier integrity, normalized endotoxemia, plasma noradrenaline levels and restored the Treg content in aorta. These data demonstrate that DOX through direct effects on gut microbiota and its non-microbial effects (anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory) reduces endothelial dysfunction and the increase in blood pressure in this low-renin form of hypertension.
Highlights
The use of antibiotics is one of the most important and efficient way of protecting human beings from infections and has increased longevity of life
DOX belongs to the same antibiotic group with the limited ability to go through the blood–brain barrier as demonstrated by several experimental studies that attenuates the increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP) in different animal models of hypertension [12–15]
The results presented in this study demonstrate that antibiotic treatment with DOX in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertension aid the improvement of endothelium-dependent relaxation and significantly reduces blood pressure
Summary
The use of antibiotics is one of the most important and efficient way of protecting human beings from infections and has increased longevity of life. Such a rise in lifespan is accompanied by an increase in cardiovascular diseases including stroke and myocardial infarction [1]. Hypertension, the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, is due to combination of host genetic, dietary and environmental factors to the chronic increase in blood pressure [2]. Recent studies conducted have demonstrated that, besides the host genome, the collective genomes of the microbiota are important, but largely unknown, as determinants of blood pressure. Compared with their respective normotensive strains and models, all experimental models of hypertension studied to date, including the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), Dahl salt-sensitive, angiotensin
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
