Gut microbiota modulation attenuated the hypolipidemic effect of simvastatin in high-fat/cholesterol-diet fed mice

摘要

Interindividual differences in hypolipidemic effect of simvastatin are observed in clinic, and metabolomic studies have uncovered the association between variations of bacterial-derived metabolites and therapeutic outcomes. In current study, we investigated the gut microbial-involved mechanisms underlying the different responses to simvastatin. Male C57BL/6J mice were given high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFD) 8 weeks and then orally administered simvastatin (20 mg/kg, once a day) for 4 weeks with or without antibiotic (100 mg/kg Imipenem : Cilastatin Sodium). We observed simvastatin reduced the levels of serum TC, LDL, HDL and TG in HFD-fed mice, but this effect was attenuated by antibiotic which altered gut microbiota composition. Subsequent metabolomic study indicated that gut microbiota modulation changed the serum metabolic and bile acid profiles in simvastatin-treated mice. Moreover, our results showed that simvastatin stimulated the expression of hepatic CYP7A1, CYP7B1 and Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in HFD-fed mice, which were impaired by gut microbiota modulation. In summary, our results revealed that the hypolipidemic effect of simvastatin was correlated with the composition of gut microbiota, and the attenuated hypolipidemic effect of simvastatin by gut microbiota modulation was associated with the suppression on hepatic CYP7A1, CYP7B1 and FXR proteins that regulate bile acids synthesis from cholesterol.