Atherosclerosis and the Microbiome
Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances in and on your artery walls, which can restrict blood flow. The plaque can burst, triggering a blood clot throughout the body, and have devastating effects. Although atherosclerosis is often considered a heart problem, it can affect arteries anywhere in your body. Atherosclerosis in conjunction with other cardiovascular diseases is one of the leading causes of death in America today.
There are over 500 bacterial species in the oral cavity, which have been traditionally considered to be the root of the destructive inflammation. However, it has been recently revealed that inflammatory diseases like atherosclerosis are actually more complex and involve the entire microbial community present in the oral cavity.
Researchers have identified that atherosclerosis begins with a dysfunctional endothelium, resulting in the recruitment of a number of immune cells, such as macrophages and T cells, into lesions. These lesions have been shown to upregulate a number of pro-inflammatory markers.
Direct mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction were conducted in numerous studies. Some studies have attempted to identify which a variety of oral bacterial species were in atheromatous tissue. Unfortunately, the role of the microbiome of the mouth and its role in the development of atherosclerosis is multifactored and is often influenced by many indirect mechanisms within the body. Researchers have already begun to test therapeutic agents for atherosclerosis. On such study was published earlier this year evaluated the effects of Berberine (BBR) on the microbiome and the treatment of atherosclerosis in the high-fat diet in ApoE–/– mice.
Berberine (BBR) is an isoquinoline alkaloid that can be isolated from various medicinal plants, such as Coptis Chinensis Franch and Cortex Phellodendron. BBR has various biological functions including anti-inflammatory activity, improvement of cholesterol levels and lipid metabolism, and prevention of metabolic diseases. These functions are also very important in the anti-atherosclerosis effect.2 In this study, high-fat diet in ApoE–/– mice were treated with different dosing levels of BBR then evaluated for correlation effect of BBR (high and low doses) on gut microbiota with the alleviation of atherosclerosis Specifically looking at the improvements in plaque area, serum lipid levels, and systemic inflammation by rRNA sequencing and metagenomic analysis. The study concluded that both high and low dose BBR can improve serum lipid and inflammation levels and alleviate atherosclerosis in a mouse model and this anti-atherosclerotic effect of BBR may be partly attributed to changes in composition and functions of gut microbiota.
Scientists continue to research the effects of the microbiome in atherosclerosis several such studies are focusing on the role of toll-like receptors (TLRs), TRLs are inflammation markers, which have become increasingly associated with inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. As well as studying pathogens such as Chlamydia pneumonia, Helicobacter pylori and P. gingivalis have been identified within the human atherosclerotic plaque.
A normal artery compared to a artery affected by atherosclerosis
Picture Source: gilmorehealth.com
