Presentation description

Cardiovascular disease is 2-4 times more prevalent in individuals with diabetes. Gut dysbiosis plays a pivotal role in diabetes-induced cardiovascular complications by producing the gut-derived microbial metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO). Gut microbial enzyme trimethylamine lyase metabolizes dietary choline and phosphatidyl choline into trimethylamine (TMA), which is then converted to TMAO by the liver enzyme flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 (FMO3). Our lab recently showed that dietary blueberries reduce TMAO and improve cardiovascular complications in diabetic db/db mice. In the present study, we investigated whether blueberry phytochemicals act by inhibiting the FMO3. Diabetic mice (db/db) were fed a standard diet or blueberry-supplemented diet (2.46% freeze-dried blueberries in diet; ~1 human serving). Control mice received a standard diet. After eight weeks of treatment, the protein expression of FMO3 was analyzed in the liver samples using Western Blot. Our preliminary studies showed that diabetic mice exhibited increased expression of liver FMO3, and blueberry supplementation reduced this expression. Our ongoing studies are focused on confirming this result with more samples and analyzing the effect of blueberry phytochemicals on trimethylamine lyase. Our study aims to investigate the potential link between dietary berries, gut microbes, and a reduced risk of diabetes-associated cardiovascular dysfunction.