Abstract
Aim
There are growing evidences linking chronic apical periodontitis (CAP) to atherosclerosis. Gut microbiota is found to be involved in the development of atherosclerosis. Recent studies have shown that CAP could change the diversity and composition of the gut microbiota. It was therefore, we hypothesized that gut microbiota and its metabolites could mediate the impact of CAP on atherosclerosis.
Methodology
Twenty-four 5-week-old lipoprotein E knockout (apoE-/-) mice were randomly divided into four groups: the CAP group, Con group, Co-CAP (cohoused with CAP), and Co-Con (cohoused with Con) group. In the CAP group, sterile cotton wool containing P. gingivalis was placed into the exposed pulp chamber, followed by coronal resin-based composite restoration of the bilateral maxillary first and second molars. In the Con group, a sham operation was performed. Biweekly, mice in the CAP group were anesthetized to check the sealing of coronal access. Meanwhile, the animals in the Con group were anesthetized. The cohousing approach was used to introduce gut microbiota from the CAP and Con groups into the Co-CAP and Co-Con groups, respectively. Alterations in the abundance and diversity of the gut microbiota were detected using 16S rRNA sequencing, Oil red O staining was used to demonstrate the extent of lesions, and serum levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), and immunohist ochemistry of flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 (FMO3) in liver were used to assess TMAO-related metabolic alterations.
Results
Alterations of alpha and beta diversity were shown both in the CAP and the Co-CAP groups. Moreover, the percentage of atherosclerotic lesion area increased in the CAP and Co-CAP groups (p<.05). Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) at the family level found the increases of Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae (P<.05), which were positively correlated with serum TMAO levels (P<.05). In the redundancy analysis technique (RDA), serum levels of TMAO were positively associated with the atherosclerotic lesions. Co-occurrence analysis revealed that the relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae and Porphyromonadacae were positively correlated with both the percentage of lesion area and TMAO level (P<.05)
Conclusion
Thus, within the limitations of this study, the data suggest that the gut microbiota can mediate the effects of CAP on atherosclerosis.
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