In chronic kidney disease (CKD), the progressive decline in the renal excretory function leads to accumulation of urea and toxins in the blood. The CKD-associated dysbiosis of gut microbiota further contributes to uremia by increasing intestinal toxins production. Gut microbiota is involved in a complex network of human organs, mediated by microbial metabolites: in CKD, gut-heart and gut-brain axes may have a role in increased cardiovascular risk and neuropsychiatric disorders. While the cardiovascular toxicity of some microbial molecules is well known, their presumptive neurotoxicity needs to be confirmed by specific studies. In this review, we describe gut-heart and gut-brain axes in CKD, with an overview of the experimental and human studies characterizing CKD-associated gut microbiota, and we discuss the benefits coming from new approaches aimed at gut manipulation. Microbiota metabolism is emerging as a modifiable non-traditional risk factor in nephrology. In order to take advantage of this issue, it is necessary to consider the microbiota manipulation as part of the nutritional management of CKD. Integrating the low-protein nutritional approach with prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplementation is a promising tool to control disease progression and comorbidities, though an extensive validation in large-scale clinical trials is still required.
Keywords: CKD; Cardiovascular disease; Gut microbiota; Gut–brain axis; Nutrition; Uremic toxins.