Physiol Geno: Uncovering the mysterious link between poor sleep quality, high blood pressure and the body's gut microbiome!

5, 2020 // -- In a recent study published in the international journal Physiology Genomics, scientists from the University of Illinois and others revealed a link between sleep disturbance, hypertension, and changes in the gut microbiome, which researchers wanted to study to identify biological properties associated with poor blood pressure changes in the gut.
Photo Source: tomcorsonknowles.com Using rats, the researchers interfered with the sleep cycles of rats, which were nocturnacts, so the experiments they designed could interfere with their sleep cycles during the day, using telemetry transmitters to measure brain activity, blood pressure and heart rate in rats It also analyzed its feces to find changes in the gut bacteripo tract; researcher Maki said that when the rat's sleep cycle or schedule is abnormal, its blood pressure increases, and even when its sleep cycle returns to normal, its body's blood pressure remains elevated, suggesting that dysfunctional sleep may damage the body's health for some time.
In addition, the researchers found unwanted changes in the gut microbiome of the rat body, contrary to the researchers' initial hypothesis, they found that changes in the gut microbiome in rats did not occur quickly, but took about a week to show adverse reactions, such as imbalances between different types of bacteria, including increased levels of inflammation-related bacteria.
when sleep disturbances stopped in rats, everything did not seem to return to normal immediately, and this study reveals a more complex system with multiple pathological factors.
This study is only a preliminary study, and later researchers will continue to study and analyze in-depth the signaling path paths associated with metabolites produced by the gut microbiome and the gut microbiome, the researchers want to clearly reveal the mechanisms by which the body's sleep characteristics are altered, and how long changes in the body's blood pressure and gut microbiome will last, and later researchers want to translate the results into human studies.
'We hope to find an intervention to help people at high risk of cardiovascular disease because their work and sleep cycles are vulnerable,' said Fink, a researcher who believes that later research may lead to the development of new therapies or dietary changes to put people at risk.
original source: Katherine A. Maki et al, Sleep fragmentation increases blood pressure and is associated with alterations in the gut microbiome and fecal metabolome in rats, Physi Genomics (2020). doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00039.2020.