MENOPAUSAL IMPLICATIONS ON CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE CAN BE MITIGATED BY PREBIOTIC TREATMENT

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease has continued to be the leading cause of death globally, and females are prone to an increased risk due to the transition to menopause. Menopause effects female physiology systemically and in this study, we aimed to better understand the changes associated with menopause in the gut microbiome and the difference in cardiac protection following the onset of menopause. Additionally, we analyzed the effects of a prebiotic, Oligofructose (OFS), on female mice as they transitioned to menopause, in effort to mitigate the negative effects associated with menopause. Using proteomic analysis and immunohistochemical staining of gut tissue from four mice groups we found that menopause changes the gut microbiome and diminishes certain bacterial colonies involved in suppressing inflammation. Moreover, we found that OFS helps mitigate this change and promotes the growth of other bacterial colonies that suppress inflammation locally and systemically. Through immunohistochemical staining of the murine cardiac tissue after undergoing a controlled myocardial infarction (MI) and subsequent ischemic reperfusion we found similar results. Menopausal mice had increased ischemic damage following 3-day MI compared to premenopausal mice. Additionally, OFS treatment was shown to mitigate this increased damage likely due to suppressing inflammatory pathways in the heart. Overall, we elucidated that menopause increases infarct size and that in the presence of OFS infarct size is comparable to premenopausal models and heart inflammation is decreased.