Analysis Of Intestinal Flora Imbalance And Serum Inflammatory Factors In Patients With Preeclampsia

Background and Purpose::Pre-eclampsia(PE)is a serious complication that occurs during pregnancy and is one of the main causes of maternal and fetal death.Its specific pathogenesis is unknown.The shift to a sustained inflammatory response is characteristic of PE and is accompanied by endothelial dysfunction,and PE is driven by a rise in proinflammatory cytokines.The intestinal flora is a microbial community living in the human digestive tract,which has an important impact on the host’s metabolism,immunity,and nutrient absorption.Dysbiosis of the intestinal flora can lead to disruption of the intestinal barrier,bacterial translocation,inflammation and oxidative stress in the organism,and such alterations may be associated with the development of PE.In this study,the intestinal flora and serum inflammatory factors in healthy control group(NP group)and preeclampsia group(PE group)were analyzed.To explore the correlation between the alteration of both and the inflammatory response of PE.We hope to provide a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of PE and improve the prognosis.Methods:The stool samples,peripheral blood samples and clinical related data of 42 PE and 20 NP pregnant women were collected.The DNA extraction kit was used to extract bacterial DNA from fecal specimens,and the PCR amplification and product purification of the obtained bacterial DNA were performed using genomic DNA as the template and the universal amplification primers with barcode for the V3-V4 region of the bacterial 16 S r RNA gene.The V3-V4 region of the bacteria was sequenced using 16 S r RNA high-throughput sequencing technology on the IlluminaMisq high-throughput sequencing platform,and bioinformatics analysis was performed.Serum levels of inflammatory factors were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Changes in intestinal flora diversity and differences in serum inflammatory factors between the NP and PE groups were analyzed.Results:1.Alpha-diversity were decreased in the PE group,and the beta-diversity of PE group was differed from that of the NP group.At the phylum level,Bacteroidetes,Firmicutes,Proteobacteria,Actinobacteria,Desulfobacteria,Fusobacteria were dominant,among which Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were overwhelmingly dominant,in the NP group and PE group.2.LEFse analysis was used to explore the differential intestinal flora between the NP group and the PE group.The relative abundance of Clostridium,Fusobacterium,Fournierella,Prevotella,Pseudomonas and Pseudarthrobacter in the intestinal flora was richer in the PE group.Succinivibrio,Desulfobactrium,Faecalibacterium and Bifidobacterium in the intestinal flora was richer in the NP group.This indicated that there were differences in intestinal flora between PE and NP groups.3.The results of PICRUSt microbial function prediction analysis showed that in the comparison between the NP group and the PE group,a total of 41 metabolic pathways at level 2 had differences between groups(P<0.05).Among them,metabolic pathways such as cell movement,exogenous biodegradation and metabolism,cardiovascular disease,lipid metabolism,endocrine system,circulatory system,amino acid metabolism,cell growth and death were mostly enriched in PE group.It suggested that bacteria related to metabolic pathways were more abundant in PE group.4.The serum levels of inflammatory factors in the NP group and PE group were analyzed by ELISA.Compared with the NP group,the serum levels of IL-6,IL-8 and IL-1β in the PE group were significantly increased,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05);Compared with the NP group,the serum IL-5content in the PE group increased,and the difference was not statistically significant.Conclusion:The microbial richness and diversity of intestinal flora in PE patients were significantly reduced,in which the abundance of pathogenic bacteria Clostridium,Fusobacterium,fournierella and Prevotella was significantly increased,while the abundance of beneficial bacteria faecalibacterium and Bifidobacterium was significantly reduced.In addition,the serum pro-inflammatory factors were significantly higher in the PE group,among which IL-8,IL-1 β and IL-6 were significantly higher than those in the NP group.These results indicated that the imbalance of intestinal flora in PE patients might cause the increase of proinflammatory factors in the peripheral blood of the body,thus aggravated the inflammatory response of the PE,which was expected to provide a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of PE and improve the prognosis.