Abstract: The gut microbiota is composed of nearly 100 trillions of symbiotic microorganisms, which can survive and metabolite on nutrients in the human body and keep human health through metabolism and immune function. The gut microbiota is inseparable from systemic diseases. The changes in gut microbiota composition as well as specific strains or groups are closely related to the occurrence of various diseases such as diabetes, obesity, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. The incidence rate and mortality rate of cardiovascular diseases are increasing globally, which seriously endangers human health. Atherosclerosis is considered as a multifactorial inflammatory disease. It is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, and peripheral vascular disease. It is the common pathological basis of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and also an important cause of death in patients. Up to now, many studies have proved that the pathological changes in patients with atherosclerosis as a chronic inflammatory disease mainly include degeneration, hyperplasia, exudation and other inflammatory reactions. Inflammatory reactions run through the whole process of atherosclerosis, from lipid streaks at the early stage to the obstruction of the lumen. However, there has been no definite conclusion about the origin of inflammatory reactions. This paper mainly summarizes the possible pathways by which the gut microbiota participates in the inflammatory response of atherosclerosis.

Key words: gut microbiota; atherosclerosis; bacterial metabolites; bacterial structural components