A gut microbial odd-chain fatty acid alleviates atherosclerosis in mice.

Bacteroides uniformis-produced pentadecanoic acid reduces atherosclerosis by about 50% in mice through lipid profile improvement and cholesterol clearance.

• Why it matters: Understanding how gut microbes influence cardiovascular disease could lead to novel therapies for atherosclerosis, especially given the depletion of beneficial bacteria like Bacteroides in affected patients.
• What they did: Researchers administered Bacteroides uniformis to mice and identified pentadecanoic acid (PA), a saturated odd-chain fatty acid, as a key metabolite. They demonstrated PA’s ability to lower plaque burden and improve lipid profiles by inhibiting hepatic cholesterol synthesis.
• The result: The findings suggest that microbial-derived PA modulates gut-liver interactions to protect against atherosclerosis, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic agent and emphasizing the importance of microbial metabolites in cardiovascular health.