Causality of Opportunistic Pathogen to Hypertension Development.

Background: Previous studies have reported a strong association between gut microbiome and hypertension; yet, the exact bacterial species associated with the disease development and progression have not yet been detected. This study aimed to investigate whether opportunistic pathogen is a causal factor for hypertension pathogenesis, and explore the potential mechanisms.

Methods: The enrichment of in the gut of patients with hypertension was validated by meta-analysis based on 3 independent cohorts. was inoculated into germ-free mice, antibiotic pretreated and conventional mice.

Results: led to higher blood pressure, slight cardiac hypertrophy, and enhanced contractility of resistant arteries in recipient mice. Moreover, induced pathological damages, deficiency of tight junction proteins and transcriptional shifts. Metabolic alterations, especially the depletion of stearoylethanolamide, were observed upon administration. In addition, renal transcriptome dysfunction with significant upregulation of genes related to hypertension pathogenesis was observed in treated mice.

Conclusions: These results provide evidence that the enrichment of acts as a direct contributor to blood pressure elevation and hypertension pathogenesis, and induced intestinal damages, fecal metabolic changes, and renal shifts may be integrated mediators.