Abstract:In this study, the effects and possible mechanism of inulin (INU) on atherosclerosis (AS) were investigated. Eight-week male ApoE-/- mice were randomly divided into control group (CON), atherosclerosis model group (AS) and INU treatment group (AS+INU), in which CON group fed with a standard chow diet, AS group fed with a high-fat diet, AS+INU group fed with dietary INU based on AS model. After 12 weeks of treatments, oil red O, Masson’s trichrome and HE stainings were used to evaluate the effects of INU on AS, 16S rRNA sequencing analysis was used to determine the community of gut microbiota. Limulus amebocyte lysate method was adopted to measure lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels in plasma. Flow cytometry multiple proteins cytometric bead array (CBA) was used to measure the inflammatory cytokines. Fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) method. The results showed that the lipid acceleration, fibrosis and vascular lesion of aorta plague were attenuated with dietary INU intervention. Total cholesterol (TC) Triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) in plasma with INU treatment were separately reduced to 14.04 mmol/L, 0.35 mmol/L, 2.31 mmol/mL, respectively (p<0.05). The gut microbiota was modulated in long-term INU administration by significantly reducing Alistipes (1.09×10-3), Intestinimonas (3.46×10-4), Bilophila (1.86×10-4), Oscillibacter (1.56×10-4), Negativibacillus (3.72×10-4) (p<0.05), as well as intriguingly increasing the relative abundance of Faecalibaculum (0.28) (p<0.05). Moreover, gut mcirobiota-derived SCFAs and plasma translocated LPS were improved with INU treatment. The pro-inflammatory tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-ɑ, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-17A in plasma and aorta root tissuewere notably decreased to 27.32 and 6.59 pg/mL, 19.15 and 4.60 pg/mL, 49.81 and 8.57 pg/mL, 16.70 and 3.57 pg/mL, respectively, in AS with long-term dietary INU intervention(p<0.05). Collectively, this study highlights that INU ameliorates AS via modulating gut microbiota and anti-inflammation.
