Effects of a high-phosphorus diet on the gut microbiota in CKD rats

To investigate whether high-phosphorus diets alter gut microbiota in healthy rats and chronic kidney disease (CKD) rats.

In this 4-week randomized controlled trial, healthy rats and CKD rats were fed a regular-phosphorus (Pi: 0.8%) and high-phosphorus (Pi: 1.2%) diet. The subjects were divided into four groups: sham-group rats with regular-phosphorus diet intervention (CTL group), sham-group rats with high-phosphorus diet intervention (CTLP group), CKD model rats with regular-phosphorus diet intervention (CKD group), and CKD model rats with high-phosphorus diet intervention (CKDP group). The V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced to study the effect of a high-phosphorus diet on gut microbiota.

A high-phosphorus intervention increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) in CTL and CKD rats but did not change serum creatinine and 25(OH)D levels. After the high-phosphorus diet, serum phosphate and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) increased in the CKDP group compared with the CKD group. The gut microbiota was significantly altered after intervention with a high-phosphorus diet in CTL and CKD group rats. A high-phosphorus diet reduced the Shannon index values of gut microbiota in all rats. The Chao1 and Ace indexes were decreased in the CTL group after high-phosphorus diet intervention. Some microbial genera were elevated significantly after high-phosphorus dietary intervention, such as Blautia and Allobaculum. The main bacteria linked to SBP and FGF23 also correlated directly with creatinine. After high-phosphorus diet intervention, the bacteria Prevotella were positively related to SBP in CTLP and CKDP groups.

High-phosphorus diets were associated with adverse changes in gut microbiota and elevated SBP, which may have adverse consequences for long-term health outcomes.