Trimethylamine (TMA) is a gut microbiota-derived metabolite which comes from diets rich of choline, betaine or l-carnitine and could be further converted to Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in the liver. As the function of gut microbiota and its metabolites being explored so far, studies suggest that TMAO may be a potential risk factor of cardiovascular diseases independent of other traditional risk factors. However, the precise role of TMAO is controversial as some converse results were discovered. In recent studies, it is hypothesized that TMA may also participate in the progression of cardiovascular diseases and some cytotoxic effect of TMA has been discovered. Thus, exploring the relationship between TMA, TMAO and CVD may bring a novel insight into the diagnosis and therapy of cardiovascular diseases. In this review, we discussed the factors which influence the TMA/TMAO’s process of metabolism in the human body. We have also summarized the pathogenic effect of TMA/TMAO in cardiovascular diseases, as well as the limitation of some controversial discoveries.

三甲胺 (TMA) 是一种肠道微生物群衍生的代谢物，来自富含胆碱、甜菜碱或l的饮食-肉碱，并可在肝脏中进一步转化为三甲胺-N-氧化物 (TMAO)。由于目前正在探索肠道菌群及其代谢产物的功能，研究表明TMAO可能是独立于其他传统危险因素的心血管疾病的潜在危险因素。然而，由于发现了一些相反的结果，TMAO 的确切作用存在争议。在最近的研究中，假设 TMA 也可能参与心血管疾病的进展，并且已经发现了 TMA 的一些细胞毒性作用。因此，探索TMA、TMAO和CVD之间的关系可能为心血管疾病的诊断和治疗带来新的见解。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了影响 TMA/TMAO 在人体内代谢过程的因素。