Journal of King Saud University: Science (Jan 2023)
In vitro impact of the long term medication for blood pressure, diabetes type II and cholesterol medicines on the gut microbiota
Abstract
Background: The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract contains a variety of microbial species that constitute the gut microbiota. The gut microbiota has a role in host immune health and defence against pathogenic organisms. The composition of gut microbiota is affected by several factors that impact the role of the GI tract, one of these factors influences medications, in particular antibiotics, however, recent findings revealed that non-antibiotic medications significantly impact the diversity of gut microbiota as well. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of three commonly prescribed medicines in vitro. Methods: Amlodipine, metformin and atorlip (atorvastatin calcium) tablets, which are frequently administered for lowering blood pressure, diabetes type II and cholesterol respectively, were included in this study. To study the antibacterial activity against potential pathogens, agar-well diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was used. Results: The outcomes indicated that metformin and atorlip showed less activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The drug of lowering cholesterol amlodipine significantly inhibited the growth of all tested bacterial strains. The zone of inhibition ranged between 12 and 30 mm. B. casei was highly susceptible and the zone of inhibition was 30 mm, conversely the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa showed resistance against amlodipine and the zone of inhibition was only 12 mm. The MIC values ranged from 0.039 to 0.612 mg/L. Conclusion: The present findings revealed that two of the used medicines (metformin and atorlip) showed no antimicrobial properties, in contrast, amlodipine reflected a potent impact against all examined microbes either probiotics or potential pathogens at very low concentrations.
