Objective To analyze the composition and characteristics of ocular surface microbiota in patients with essential hypertension based on high-throughput sequencing of 16S rDNA, and provide new ideas for the prevention and treatment of hypertension related eye diseases.
Methods Sixty patients with essential hypertension who visited the outpatient department of Zigong First People's Hospital from July 2022 to December 2022 were selected as the hypertension group (HTN group), and 30 healthy volunteers from the same period were selected as the control group (Ctrl group). High-throughput sequencing technology was used to detect the V3-V4 variable regions of the 16S rDNA gene in ocular surface bacteria, and the differences between the two groups were compared.
Results A total of 6 544 987 valid sequences and 3 748 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained through sequencing, including 1 296 OTUs unique to the HTN group and 476 OTUs unique to the Ctrl group. Diversity analysis showed that the abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE) index 494.03 (356.68, 888.36) vs 385.86 (333.99,502.88), Z=−2.019, P=0.043 and Chao1 index 387.50 (260.00, 558.10) vs 343.15 (256.45, 413.55), Z=−2.009, P=0.045 of the HTN group were higher than those of the Ctrl group, and β diversity analysis revealed distinct microbial community structures between the two groups (P＜0.05). The analysis of relative abundance of microbiota showed that the abundance of actinobacteria 0.203（0.123, 0.319）vs 0.117（0.058, 0.181）, Z=−2.441, P=0.015 and corynebacterium 0.123（0.051, 0.230）vs 0.034（0.017, 0.100）, Z=−2.822, P=0.004 in the HTN group was significantly higher than that in the Ctrl group. Characteristic bacterial linear discriminant analysis showed that compared with the Ctrl group, the abundance of actinobacteria, actinobacteria, corynebacteriales, and corynebacteriaceae in the HTN group increased. Functional analysis revealed that 14 pathways enriched in the HTN group, including nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and riboflavin metabolism.
Conclusion The ocular surface microbiota of hypertensive patients has changed significantly in diversity, relative abundance and characteristic fungi compared with healthy individuals.
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