Oral administration of the lactic acid bacterium Pediococcus acidilactici attenuates atherosclerosis in mice by inducing tolerogenic dendritic cells

The intestinal microbiota appears to play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis. We investigated the effect of the probiotic lactic acid bacterium Pediococcus acidilactici R037 on atherosclerosis using apolipoprotein E-deficient ( ApoE −/− ) mice. Six-week-old ApoE −/− mice were orally administered R037 six times a week. Mice treated with R037 for 12 weeks exhibited markedly attenuated atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic root (2.3 ± 0.15 × 10 5 µm 2 vs. 3.3 ± 0.29 × 10 5 µm 2 , respectively; P