Table 1.
Summary of studies reporting beneficial effects of SCFAs in cardio-metabolic health through different traits
| Phenotype | Trait | Study | Study design | Mechanism/ SCFA-producing bacteria |
Main results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atherosclerosis | Blood pressure | Li (2018) 157 |
HUVEC pre-incubated alone or with FFAR2 and FFAR3 antagonists and then exposed to TNFα or LPS | SCFA-mediated activation of FFAR2 and FFAR3, and HDAC inhibition | - Acetate: ↓ IL-6 and IL-8 - Propionate and butyrate: ↓ IL-8, VCAM-1 and PBMC adhesion to endothelial monolayer |
| Cardiovascular diseases | Inflammation | Bartolomaeus (2019) 158 |
Wild-type NMRI or apolipoprotein E knockout–deficient mice receiving propionate or control | T-cell dependent | Both models: ↓ systemic inflammation, cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, vascular dysfunction and hypertension |
| Obesity | Gut barrier integrity and energy usage | Kang (2017) 159 |
Mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with capsaicin | ↑Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae |
↓ metabolic endotoxemia and body weight gain |
| Gut barrier integrity and inflammation | Cani (2007) 160 |
High-fat-diet-fed mice using oligofructose or control | ↑Bifidobacterium spp. | - ↓ endotoxemia and proinflammatory cytokines (plasma and adipose tissue) - Improvement: glucose tolerance, glucose-induced insulin secretion |
|
| Inflammatory response and lipid metabolism | Schneeberger (2015) 155 |
Diet-induced obesity male C57BL/6 J mice | Akkermansia muciniphila | ↓ inflammation, metabolic disorders, altered adipose tissue metabolism | |
| Metabolic homeostasis | Dao (2016) 161 |
49 overweight and obese adults with calorie restriction | Akkermansia muciniphila | Improvement: insulin sensitivity markers and metabolic status | |
| Metabolic homeostasis | Kimura (2013) 162 |
GPR43-deficient and GPR43-overexpressing mice | SCFA-mediated activation of GPR43 | ↓ fat accumulation (adipose tissue) ↑ lipid and glucose metabolism (other tissues) |
|
| Energy intake | Lin (2012) 163 |
C57BL/6 N male mice receiving SCFAs | FFAR3-independent | Butyrate and propionate: ↓food intake and body weight | |
| Insulin resistance | Gao (2009) 164 |
Dietary-obese C57BL/6 J mice fed with butyrate | Energy expenditure promotion and mitochondria function induction | ↑ thermogenesis and fatty acid oxidation – Prevention of insulin resistance and obesity development | |
| T2D | Metabolic homeostasis | Sakakibara (2006) 165 |
Diabetic KK-A mice fed with acetic acid and control | AMPK in the liver | ↑ gluconeogenesis and lipogenesis genes |
| Metabolic homeostasis and blood pressure | Roshanravan (2017) 166 |
60 patients with T2D receiving (A) sodium butyrate capsules, (B) inulin supplement powder, (C) inulin and sodium butyrate and (D) placebo | GLP-1 | - Group A,B,C: ↓ reduced diastolic blood pressure - Group C: ↓ fasting blood sugar and waist to hip ratio |
AMPK, AMP-activated protein kinase; CMH, cardio-metabolic health; FFAR, free fatty acid receptor; GLP-1, glucagon-like peptide-1; GPR43, G-protein coupled receptor 43; HUVEC, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; IL, interleukins; HDAC, histone deacetylase; SCFA, short-chain fatty acid; OLETF, Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty; PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cell; PYY, peptide YY; T2D, type-2 diabetes; VCAM-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1.