Diet-related gut microbial metabolites and sensing in hypertension

Advances in sequencing technology have increased our understanding of the composition of the gut microbiota and their contribution to health and disease states, including in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. The gut microbiota is heavily influenced by diet and produce metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) from various food sources. SCFAs, such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate, have been shown to have blood pressure, cardiac hypertrophy, and fibrosis lowering properties, while TMAO has been associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular adverse events and mortality. Some of these metabolites have known ligands (for example, SCFA receptors such as GPR41, GPR43, GPR109a, and Olf78 in mice/OR51E2 in humans) which could potentially be manipulated as therapeutic targets for hypertension. In this review, we discuss several types of diet-related gut microbial metabolites and their sensing mechanisms that are relevant for hypertension, and the future directions for the field.