Table 3.

Summary of the effects of statins on the intestinal microbiota in different diseases.

Disease	Type of Statin	Study Design	Dose/Day	Intestinal Microbial Changes	Results	Reference
Hypercholesteremia	Atorvastatin	Rat	10, 15, 20 mg/kg	Proteobacteria increased, Firmicutes decreased	Intestinal microbial diversity increased	[149]
		Human	20 mg	Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Akkermansia muciniphilaa and Oscillospira increased Desufovibrio decreased	Reduced pro-inflammatory bacteria and taxa associated with atherosclerosis formation and CVD progression	[150]
Ischemic stroke	Atorvastatin	Mice	20 mg/kg	Firmicutes and Lactobacillus increased, Bacteroidetes decreased	Increased fecal butyrate level, promoted intestinal barrier function	[151]
Acute coronary syndrome	Statins	Human	/	Parabacteroides merdae decreased Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum, Anaerostipes hadrus and Ruminococcus obeum increased	Specific changes in bacterial taxa were associated with disease severity or outcomes either directly or by mediating metabolites such as fatty acids and prenol lipids	[152]
Obesity	Atorvastatin	Mice	10 mg/kg	Bacteroides, Butyricimonas, and Mucispirillum increased	Statins improved the inflammation associated microbiota in elderly obese mice	[153]
	Rosuvastatin		3 mg/kg 9.3 mg/kg	Lachnospiraceae, Rikenella and Coprococcus increased Akkermansiaceae, Proteobacteria decreased		[153,154]
NASH/NAFLD	Atorvastatin	Mice	20 mg/kg	Mucispirillum, Desulfovibrio, Anaerotruncus and Desulfovibrionaceae decreased	Increased serum TCA and depleted 3-IPA	[155]
			20 mg/kg	Ruminococcaceae increased	Promoted the formation of deoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid	[156]

CVD, cardiovascular disease; NASH, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; TCA, taurocholic acid; IPA, indolepropionic acid.