Trimethylamine-N-Oxide: Its Role in Cardiovascular Disease, Mechanism and Potential Therapeutic Targets

  • Qi Luo Xiamen University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18686/aem.v11i3.240
Keywords: Cardiovascular Disease, Trimethylamine-N-Oxide, L-Carnitine, Therapeutic Targets

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common circulatory system disease and the collective name of all kinds of heart diseases, such as rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, hypertensive heart disease and so on. According to WHO’s publishment, CVD is the top three leading cause of death in the world. Therefore, it is necessary to study the risk factors of CVD. In recent years, there has been increasing research on the effect of diet on CVD, and red meat caught the attention of researchers. L-carnitine in red meat can eventually be oxidized to trimethylamine-n-oxide (TMAO) by the gut flora. In this review, I give evidence-based conclusions about the relationship between L-carnitine and CVD, metabolism of TMAO in the presence of intestinal microorganisms. I also discuss the mechanism by which TMAO increases the CVD risk and possible therapeutic targets offered by TMAO. Overall speaking, it is a promising research direction to find therapeutic targets by blocking L-carnitine’s formation.

References

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Published
2022-11-03
Issue
Vol 11 No 3 (2022)
Section
Original Research Article

Copyright (c) 2022 Qi Luo

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