Searching across hundreds of databases

Our searching services are busy right now. Your search will reload in five seconds.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease.

Nature | 2011

Metabolomics studies hold promise for the discovery of pathways linked to disease processes. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Here we used a metabolomics approach to generate unbiased small-molecule metabolic profiles in plasma that predict risk for CVD. Three metabolites of the dietary lipid phosphatidylcholine--choline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine--were identified and then shown to predict risk for CVD in an independent large clinical cohort. Dietary supplementation of mice with choline, TMAO or betaine promoted upregulation of multiple macrophage scavenger receptors linked to atherosclerosis, and supplementation with choline or TMAO promoted atherosclerosis. Studies using germ-free mice confirmed a critical role for dietary choline and gut flora in TMAO production, augmented macrophage cholesterol accumulation and foam cell formation. Suppression of intestinal microflora in atherosclerosis-prone mice inhibited dietary-choline-enhanced atherosclerosis. Genetic variations controlling expression of flavin monooxygenases, an enzymatic source of TMAO, segregated with atherosclerosis in hyperlipidaemic mice. Discovery of a relationship between gut-flora-dependent metabolism of dietary phosphatidylcholine and CVD pathogenesis provides opportunities for the development of new diagnostic tests and therapeutic approaches for atherosclerotic heart disease.

Pubmed ID: 21475195 RIS Download

Research resources used in this publication

None found

Antibodies used in this publication

None found

Associated grants

  • Agency: NCRR NIH HHS, United States
    Id: UL1 RR024989
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01HL087018-020001
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 HL103931
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL28481
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 HL103866
  • Agency: NIDDK NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 DK007789
  • Agency: NIDDK NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 DK080732
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL098055
  • Agency: NCRR NIH HHS, United States
    Id: UL1 RR024989-05
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL076491-05
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 HL103866-02
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL30568
  • Agency: NIDDK NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 DK080732-02
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL098055-02
  • Agency: NIDDK NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32-DK07789
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL030568-27
  • Agency: NIDDK NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 DK007789-10
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL087018
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL028481
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL076491
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL087018-02
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: K99 HL102223-01A1
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 HL098193
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL030568
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P01 HL028481-26A1
  • Agency: NIAAA NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P20 AA017837
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 GM007250
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 HL103931-02
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: K99 HL102223

Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


R Project for Statistical Computing (tool)

RRID:SCR_001905

Software environment and programming language for statistical computing and graphics. R is integrated suite of software facilities for data manipulation, calculation and graphical display. Can be extended via packages. Some packages are supplied with the R distribution and more are available through CRAN family.It compiles and runs on wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS.

View all literature mentions

ExPANdS (tool)

RRID:SCR_005199

Software that characterizes coexisting subpopulations (SPs) in a tumor using copy number and allele frequencies derived from exome- or whole genome sequencing input data. The model amplifies the statistical power to detect coexisting genotypes, by fully exploiting run-specific tradeoffs between depth of coverage and breadth of coverage. ExPANdS predicts the number of clonal expansions, the size of the resulting SPs in the tumor bulk, the mutations specific to each SP and tumor purity. The main function runExPANdS provides the complete functionality needed to predict coexisting SPs from single nucleotide variations (SNVs) and associated copy numbers. The robustness of the subpopulation predictions by ExPANdS increases with the number of mutations provided. It is recommended that at least 200 mutations are used as an input to obtain stable results.

View all literature mentions

Image Pro Plus (tool)

RRID:SCR_007369

THIS RESOURCE IS NO LONGER IN SERVICE. Documented on July 18,2023. Software package to capture, process, measure, analyze and share images and data.

View all literature mentions