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Raval – An investigation of the gut microbiota and butyrate producers in a cohort of hypertensive African Americans

 

An investigation of the gut microbiota and butyrate producers in a cohort of hypertensive African Americans (2024)

Undergraduate: Devanshi Raval


Faculty Advisor: Ian Carroll
Department: Nutrition

Objectives: Hypertension (HTN) poses significant health risks, exacerbated by factors like age, obesity, lifestyle, diet, and race, particularly affecting African Americans (AAs) due to various socio-economic, lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors. Gut microbiota's role in HTN, especially in AAs, remains unclear. Therefore, we sought to identify gut microbial differences in a cohort of AA that were hypertensive (H) or normotensive (N), and determine the effect of supplementing butyrate enema, a beneficial short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) produced by the gut, on systolic blood pressure (SBP). We also measured circulating blood butyrate levels in subjects that received a butyrate enema, and compared the abundances of specific microbes between those who had an increase or decrease in blood butyrate (responders vs. non-responders) in an effort to predict beneficial responses to a butyrate enema._x000D_
Methods: A cross-sectional study with 10 H and 10 N AA subjects was conducted, where initial fecal samples, SBP, and butyrate levels were collected. The control (0.9% saline) and experimental (80mM butyrate) enema was given to the H group. Fecal samples underwent DNA isolation and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Taxonomic classification took place using the QIIME 2 pipeline._x000D_
Results: N subjects exhibited higher microbial diversity and abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria like Odoribacter, Alistipes, Ruminococcus torques, and Prevotella. Responders to butyrate showed significant differences in Acidaminococcus, Dorea, Subdoligranulum, and Ruminococcus._x000D_
Conclusions: Increased butyrate-producing microbes in N subjects and decreased blood pressure post butyrate enema suggest butyrate's potential in HTN mitigation. Further research is needed to understand butyrate's effectiveness in H groups and its relation to gut permeability. Larger studies and mice models can provide insights for personalized HTN treatments in AAs via the gut microbiome.