AUTHOR=Yu Yiran , Liu Qiuping , Li Haichang , Wen Chengping , He Zhixing 

TITLE=Alterations of the Gut Microbiome Associated With the Treatment of Hyperuricaemia in Male Rats

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02233

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.02233

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Hyperuricaemia is an important risk factor for many diseases including gout, hypertension, and type II diabetes. The gut microbiota is associated with hyperuricaemia and has also been demonstrated to play significant roles in the effects of drug therapy. This study used Illumina MiSeq sequencing to explore alterations of the gut microbiome associated with allopurinol and benzbromarone treatment in the male rat with hyperuricaemia. After drug treatment, both allopurinol and benzbromarone caused an increase of the genera <italic>Bifidobacterium</italic> and <italic>Collinsella</italic> and a decrease of the genera <italic>Adlercreutzia</italic> and <italic>Anaerostipes</italic>. In addition, allopurinol and benzbromarone caused respective unique changes in genera. The genera <italic>Bilophila</italic>, <italic>Morganella</italic>, and <italic>Desulfovibrio</italic> specifically decreased due to allopurinol treatment. Decreased <italic>Butyricimonas</italic> and <italic>Ruminococcus</italic> and increased <italic>Proteus</italic> were caused by benzbromarone treatment. The PICRUST analysis indicated that allopurinol renovated the disorder of nucleotide metabolism and benzbromarone renovated the disorder of lipid metabolism in the gut microbiota of male rats with hyperuricaemia. These findings demonstrated that the gut microbiota may be altered by the treatment of hyperuricaemia with allopurinol and benzbromarone in male rats. Such alterations of the gut microbiota could be considered as indicators of the effectiveness of drug therapy.</p>