Gut Microbiota Profile Identifies Transition From Compensated Cardiac Hypertrophy to Heart Failure in Hypertensive Rats

Microcirculatory alterations displayed by patients with heart failure (HF) induce structural and functional intestinal changes that may affect normal gut microbial community. At the same time, gut microbiota can influence pathological mechanisms implicated in HF progression. However, it is unknown whether gut microbiota dysbiosis can precede the development of cardiac alterations in HF or it is only a mere consequence. Our aim was to investigate the potential relationship between gut microbiota composition and HF development by comparing spontaneously hypertensive heart failure and spontaneously hypertensive rat models. Gut microbiota from spontaneously hypertensive heart failure, spontaneously hypertensive rat, and normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats at 9 and 19 months of age was analyzed by sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, and KEGG metabolic pathways associated to 16S profiles were predicted. Beta diversity, Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes ratio, taxonomic abundances, and potential metabolic functions of gut microbiota were significantly different in spontaneously hypertensive heart failure with respect to spontaneously hypertensive rat before (9 months) and after (19 months) cardiac differences were presented. Nine-month-old spontaneously hypertensive heart failure showed a significant increase in the genera Paraprevotella, Oscillospira, Prevotella 9, Faecalitalea, Faecalibacterium, Ruminiclostridium 6, Phascolarctobacterium, Butyrivibrio, Parasutterella, and Parabacteroides compared with both Wistar Kyoto and spontaneously hypertensive rat, while Ruminiclostridium 9 , Oscillibacter , Ruminiclostridium , Mucispirillum, Intestinimonas , and Akkermansia were diminished. Of them, Akkermansia, Prevotella 9 , Paraprevotella , and Phascolarctobaterium were associated to changes in cardiac structure and function. Our results demonstrate an association between specific changes in gut microbiota and the development of HF in a hypertensive model of HF and further support the intervention to restore gut microbiota as an innovative therapeutic strategy for preventing HF.