Rong Chen,Bo Liu,Xiaoyang Wang,Kai Chen,Keyu Zhang,Lifang Zhang,Chenzhong Fei,Chunmei Wang,Yingchun Liu,Feiqun Xue,Feng Gu,Mi Wang
Polysaccharide was derived from Pueraria lobata (PPL) which was considered as one of the traditional Chinese medicinal and edible herbs. In the present study, PPL was administered in equal doses (12.5 mg/kg) to both normal mice and antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) mice for two weeks, and was evaluated in terms of body weight, organ indices, gut structure, gut microbiota and short chain fatty acids. The results showed that normal mice treated with PPL not only reduced the isovaleric acid concentration ( P < 0.05), but also significantly increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, involving Oscillospira and Anaerotruncus ( P < 0.05). In addition, PPL could relieve colonic pathological changes and gut microbiota dysbiosis caused by AAD. It indicated that PPL was a potential functional food ingredient by modulating gut microbiota.
Siya Wu,Jihui Zuo,Yang Cheng,Ya Zhang,Zhongshan Zhang,Mingjiang Wu,Yue Yang,Haibin Tong
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is considered a rapidly growing chronic disease that threatens human health worldwide. Extracts of various seaweeds have been shown to have anti-diabetic activity. Sargarsum fusiforme, an edible brown seaweed, has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity activities. In this study, we investigated the beneficial effect of an ethanol extract of S. fusiforme (EE) on type 2 diabetes in mice induced with high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ). Administering EE to the diabetic mice significantly reduced food intake, water intake and fasting blood glucose (FBG), while improving glucose tolerance, lipid profile and ameliorating hepatic oxidative stress. Furthermore, these animals also exhibited significantly diminished epididymal fat deposition, as well as less pathological changes in the heart and liver tissues, while displaying some highly enriched benign gut bacteria (e.g., Intestinimonas , Oscillibacter , Lachnoclostridium, unidentified_Lachnospiraceae , Roseburia and Anaerotruncus ) and a lower abundance of bacteria associated with diabetes or other metabolic diseases (e.g., Enterorhabdus and Romboutsia ). Metabolomic analysis revealed reduced levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), such as l -valine and l -isoleucine, aromatic amino acids (AAA), such as l -tyrosine and l -phenylalanine, and increased levels of 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (4-HPA) in the gut content, suggesting that EE may impact T2DM through modulation of these compounds in the gut of the animals. Taken together, the results implied that S. fusiforme may contain valuable active components other than polysaccharides that have potential benefit in alleviating T2DM.