Phosphatidylglucose alleviates atherosclerosis by increasing cholesterol alienation to bile acids and cholesterol efflux in ApoE-/- mice

BACKGROUNDPhosphatidylcholine (PC) is considered to be the major dietary source for choline, which is associated with atherosclerosis progress. Thus, phosphatidylglucose (PG) was prepared by enzymatic modification of PC to investigate the effects on atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice, as well as to investigate its dose-response relationship. RESULTSThe results showed that dietary PG significantly decreased the atherosclerotic lesion area in a dose-dependent manner. Further studies found that intervention with a 0.8 g kg(-1) and 2 g kg(-1) PG diet for 4 months significantly decreased free cholesterol level and thus reduced total cholesterol levels in serum. The results of cholesterol distribution among lipoproteins showed that dietary PG significantly decreased low-density lipoprotein levels in ApoE(-/-) mice. In addition, only administration of high-dose PG significantly reduced total cholesterol levels in liver tissues by 31.2%. Furthermore, mice treated with high-dose PG had an expanded bile acid pool and increased the ratio of conjugated bile acids to unconjugated bile acids in the liver, serum and gallbladder by increasing hepatic gene expression of primary and conjugated bile acid synthesis. Additionally, low-dose and high-dose PG significantly increased total fecal sterols by 20.8% and 11.9%, respectively, by increasing sitosterol and ethylcoprostanol levels. CONCLUSIONThese results indicate that PG alleviated atherosclerosis in a dose-dependent manner by increasing cholesterol alienation to bile acids and cholesterol efflux. (c) 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.