The gut microbiota composition and metabolites are different in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and normotension: A pilot study

Abstract Introduction Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are one of the main causes of perinatal morbidity. Gut microbiota influences host inflammatory pathways, glucose, and lipid metabolism. However, there is a lack of studies available on gut microbiota in HDP. Objectives We investigate the mechanistic and pathogenic role of microbiota in the development of HDP, and want to treat HDP with gut microbiota. Methods We performed a case–control study to compare fecal samples of HDP and normotensive pregnant women by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Fecal samples, collected from pregnant women, were divided into groups P and C (pregnant women with HDP and normotension, respectively). There were six pregnant women in group P and nine pregnant women in group C. Age of pregnant women is from 18 to 40 years and gestational age is from 27 to 40 weeks. DNA was extracted from fecal samples; a gene library was constructed and analyzed using bioinformatics. Finally, we determined the changes in the microbiome by alpha diversity, beta diversity, classification abundance, and taxonomic composition analyses. Results Escherichia (10.48% in group P and 0.61% in group C) was the dominant bacterium in HDP patients by classification abundance analysis, which can lead to the development of preeclampsia through inflammatory response. We found that pregnant women with HDP had higher abundance of Rothia ( p = 0.04984), Actinomyces ( p = 0.02040), and Enterococcus ( p = 0.04974) and lower abundance of Coprococcus ( p = 0.04955) than pregnant women with normotension for the first time by taxonomic composition analysis. Based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database analysis, physiological and biochemical functions of HDP patients were significantly weakened, especially in energy metabolism. Conclusions We found the effect of changes in gut microbiota on the development of HDP. In comparison with group C, group P contained more harmful bacteria and less beneficial bacteria, which are associated with HDP. Our research further provides a basis for a clinical application for HDP treatment using antibiotics and probiotic supplementation.