- Navab, Mohamad;
- Hough, Greg;
- Buga, Georgette M;
- Su, Feng;
- Wagner, Alan C;
- Meriwether, David;
- Chattopadhyay, Arnab;
- Gao, Feng;
- Grijalva, Victor;
- Danciger, Janet S;
- Van Lenten, Brian J;
- Org, Elin;
- Lusis, Aldons J;
- Pan, Calvin;
- Anantharamaiah, GM;
- Farias-Eisner, Robin;
- Smyth, Susan S;
- Reddy, Srinivasa T;
- Fogelman, Alan M
We recently reported that levels of unsaturated lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) in the small intestine significantly correlated with the extent of aortic atherosclerosis in LDL receptor-null (LDLR⁻/⁻) mice fed a Western diet (WD). Here we demonstrate that WD increases unsaturated (but not saturated) LPA levels in the small intestine of LDLR⁻/⁻ mice and causes changes in small intestine gene expression. Confirmation of microarray analysis by quantitative RT-PCR showed that adding transgenic tomatoes expressing the apoA-I mimetic peptide 6F (Tg6F) to WD prevented many WD-mediated small intestine changes in gene expression. If instead of feeding WD, unsaturated LPA was added to chow and fed to the mice: i) levels of LPA in the small intestine were similar to those induced by feeding WD; ii) gene expression changes in the small intestine mimicked WD-mediated changes; and iii) changes in plasma serum amyloid A, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol levels, and the fast-performance liquid chromatography lipoprotein profile mimicked WD-mediated changes. Adding Tg6F (but not control tomatoes) to LPA-supplemented chow prevented the LPA-induced changes. We conclude that: i) WD-mediated systemic inflammation and dyslipidemia may be in part due to WD-induced increases in small intestine LPA levels; and ii) Tg6F reduces WD-mediated systemic inflammation and dyslipidemia by preventing WD-induced increases in LPA levels in the small intestine.