A Mouse Model Suggests That Heart Failure and Its Common Comorbidity Sleep Fragmentation Have No Synergistic Impacts on the Gut Microbiome

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is a common condition associated with a high rate of hospitalizations and adverse outcomes. HF is characterized by impairments of either the cardiac ventricular filling, ejection of blood capacity or both. Sleep fragmentation (SF) involves a series of short sleep interruptions that lead to fatigue and contribute to cognitive impairments and dementia. Both conditions are known to be associated with increased inflammation and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. In the present study, mice were distributed into four groups, and subjected for four weeks to either HF, SF, both HF and SF, or left unperturbed as controls. We used 16S metabarcoding to assess fecal microbiome composition before and after the experiments. Evidence for distinct alterations in several bacterial groups and an overall decrease in alpha diversity emerged in HF and SF treatment groups. Combined HF and SF conditions, however, showed no synergism, and observed changes were not always additive, suggesting preliminarily that some of the individual effects of either HF or SF cancel each other out when applied concomitantly.

Is the Gut Microbiome Implicated in the Excess Risk of Hypertension Associated with Obstructive Sleep Apnea? A Contemporary Review

“…This includes an increased F/B ratio, an overgrowth of the families Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae, and a reduction in Lactobacillaceae families [ 79 ]. Increased Faecalibaculum and Muribaculum and decreased Lactococcus and Lachnoclostridium genera have also been noted [ 80 ], similar to the findings in IH models. A dose–response in the relationship between sleep disruption and gut dysbiosis has been reported, with the degree of perturbation in the microbiota increasing with prolonged duration of sleep fragmentation [ 81 ].…”

“…Sleep fragmentation, another cardinal feature of OSA, may also be implicated. Animals subjected to recurrent arousals from sleep manifest gut dysbiosis, with reduced diversity [ 79 , 80 ] and alterations in the taxonomic makeup which lead to increased intestinal permeability, LPS production and inflammation. This includes an increased F/B ratio, an overgrowth of the families Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae, and a reduction in Lactobacillaceae families [ 79 ].…”

Human experimental models: seeking to enhance multiscale research in sleep apnoea

“…Interestingly, however, these OSA models can be combined with other models (e.g. diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart failure, menopause and gestation [11][12][13][14][15][16]) to study potential interactions. Nevertheless, as is the case in animal research for all other diseases, direct translation to patients is not necessarily straightforward, because such models do not and cannot perfectly reproduce the disease [17], and also because of the expected inter-species differences [18].…”