Abstract: Cholesterol is essential for the growth and development of mammalian cells, but excessively high serum cholesterol can cause many diseases. Lactic acid bacteria have received extensive attention because of their ability to regulate serum cholesterol level in recent years. Cholesterol metabolism in vivo is a complex process where multiple factors, levels, proteins and genes are involved. At present, the regulatory mechanism of lactic acid bacteria on cholesterol metabolism is unclear yet. Most studies just focus on single or a few metabolic enzymes or proteins, and lack systematicness. This paper summarizes current studies on cholesterol metabolism and the substance basis for the regulation of cholesterol metabolism by lactic acid bacteria, and it discusses the applications of differential proteomics and polymerase chain reaction array to analyze the differentially expressed proteins in liver lipoprotein, plasma and liver of different mouse models and genes involved in the cholesterol metabolism pathways, with the aim of providing evidence for exploring the active substance basis and mechanism for the cholesterol-lowering effect of lactic acid bacteria.

Key words: lactic acid bacteria, cholesterol metabolism, regulatory mechanism