Phosphatidylcholine

Roles and Mechanisms of Choline Metabolism in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Cancers.

Chen X, Qiu W, Ma X, Ren L, Feng M, Hu S · Frontiers in bioscience (Landmark edition) · 2024

Choline participates in three major metabolic pathways: oxidation, phosphorylation, and acetylation. Through oxidation, choline is converted to betaine and contributes to methyl metabolism and epigenetic regulation. Through phosphorylation, choline participates in phospholipid metabolism, and serves as the precursor of phosphocholine, phosphatidylcholine, glycerophosphocholine, and other essential compounds, thereby modulating lipid metabolism and transport. Through acetylation, choline is transformed into acetylcholine in cholinergic neurons, playing a vital role in neurotransmission. Moreover, gut microbiota can metabolize choline into trimethylamine-N-oxide, and be involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cancer, cardiovascular disease, etc. Since choline metabolism is implicated in the development of NAFLD and diverse cancers, including liver cancer, it may serve as a therapeutic target for these diseases in the future. Curr

Dietary supplements for intestinal inflammation.

Kiani AK, Bonetti G, Donato K, Bertelli M · Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2022

Intestinal inflammation leads to various chronic diseases, collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD mainly affects the large intestine, but it can also affect the gastrointestinal tract as a whole. Its major symptoms are pain, diarrhea, and weight loss, and it is usually associated with deficiencies of both macro- and micronutrients. Unluckily, after some time the body develops resistance against the already available drugs: thus, many patients fail to maintain remission, which is achieved in less than 50% of cases. Diet is a major determinant of gut inflammation. An unbalanced diet can affect the gut microbiota and cause dysbiosis, which is related to a dysregulated host immune response. The Mediterranean Diet its renowned for its anti-inflammatory effects and for preventing dysbiosis. In order to improve management and treatment of intestinal inflammatory diseases, it should become common practice to integrate the patient's diet with dietary supplements with anti-i

Evaluation of Red Wine Effects Upon Gut Flora and Plasma Levels of Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in Patients With Established Atherosclerotic Disease

n=42 · NCT03232099 · COMPLETED · COMPLETED

Recent evidence indicates that Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is a pro-atherosclerotic, phosphatidylcholine-dependent metabolite of diet and intestinal flora. Food substrates derive from carnitine and phosphatidylcholine (lecithin), present mainly in eggs, red meat, liver and pork. The intestinal flora pattern that favors the formation of TMAO is very similar to that which predisposes to insulin resistance and obesity: a high proportion between phylum Firmicutes over Bacteroidetes. The intestinal microbiota is sensitive and variable; the use of prebiotics and probiotics can change the relationship between Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes phyla. Red wine (RW), for its composition with polyphenols and possible bactericidal role, may play a role in the intestinal flora modification and could promote proliferation of beneficial bacteria. However, the influence of RW on TMAO is not known. This is the hypothesis to be tested in this trial. METHODS: This is a prospective, crossover, randomized, controlled trial with patients from Heart Institute (InCor), FMUSP and volunteers recruited through press releases. We will evaluate 42 patients, all men, with established atherosclerotic disease. Patients will be evaluated in a crossed manner: each subject receives both treatments, intervention and control (in random order), and they will be divided into 2 groups: A and B. In the first intervention stage, after 2 weeks of washout for all patients , group A receives Red Wine (RW) and group B is the control, abstemious. In the 2nd stage of intervention, after 2 weeks of washout for all patients the groups are inverted: group B receives RW; and group A will be abstemious. In the period with wine intervention, patients will receive 250 mL/day of red wine per day, for 5 days of the week, for 3 weeks. Patients will maintain their usual diet without the use of prebiotics or probiotics, or other polyphenolic derivatives. At the beginning and at the end of each stage, patients will be submitted to serum TMAO and intestinal microbiota evaluation. For the intestinal microbiota evaluation, the new generation sequencing will be used in the highly preserved portion of the 16S subunit of the rRNA gene. The determination of TMAO in plasma will be by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Expected results: It is expected to determine if RW acts on the intestinal flora to the point of influencing plasma TMAO concentration.

Anti-phospholipid Antibodies in Adult Patients With Different Clinical Manifestations of Lyme Borreliosis

n=240 · NCT06929546 · NOT_YET_RECRUITING · NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Background Lyme borreliosis, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected Ixodes tick. B. burgdorferi sensu lato accumulates intact phospholipids from its environment to support its growth. Several of these environmentally acquired phospholipids including phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidic acid may be recognized by anti-phospholipid antibodies that are believed to arose early in infection. Here we aimed to investigate the levels of anti-phospholipid antibodies in patients with Lyme borreliosis. Methods Participants included in the study: * 150 patients with well-defined Lyme borreliosis, of which 30 presented with solitary erythema migrans (EM), 30 with multiple EM (MEM), 30 with Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), 30 with Lyme arthritis (LA), 30 with acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA); * 50 patients with nonspecific symptoms and positive borrelial antibodies in serum; and * 40 healthy blood donors (control group; samples from healthy blood donors were used to determine the threshold for the assays). Specimens: * 4 serum samples from each individual patient with well-defined Lyme borreliosis (1 before antibiotic treatment, 3 during follow-up up to 1 year); * 2 serum samples from patients with nonspecific symptoms and positive borrelial antibodies (1 before antibiotic treatment and one 3 months later); * healthy blood donors: 1 serum specimen. Anti-phospolipid antibodies: Levels of IgG and IgM isotypes of 4 anti-phospholipid antibodies including anti-cardiolipin (aCL), anti-phosphatidylserine (aPS), anti-phosphatidic acid (aPA) and anti-phosphatidylcholine (aPC) will be analyzed with in-house ELISAs.