Orally Administered DHA-Enriched Phospholipids and DHA-Enriched Triglyceride Relieve Oxidative Stress, Improve Intestinal Barrier, Modulate Inflammatory Cytokine and Gut Microbiota, and Meliorate Inflammatory Responses in the Brain in Dextran Sodium Sulfate Induced Colitis in Mice.

SCOPE: Studies based on DHA/EPA supplementation in animal models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) reveal controversial results. It is speculated that different forms of DHA may explain the controversial results. Therefore, the effects of DHA-enriched phospholipids (DHA-PL) and DHA-enriched triglyceride (DHA-TG) on IBD are compared. METHODS AND RESULTS: Male C57BL6/J mice are given DHA-PL and DHA-TG for 14 consecutive days, and receive ad libitum a 3.0% dextran sodium sulfate solution on the eighth day to establish IBD model. The results show that both DHA-PL and DHA-TG can reverse the colitis pathological process by decreasing the disease activity indexes (DAI), raising the colon length, suppressing the intestinal permeability, suppressing the oxidative stress, down-regulating pro-inflammatory factors, up-regulating anti-inflammatory factor in colon tissues. DHA-PL and DHA-TG also regulate the composition of gut microbiota via decreasing of the abundance Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, and DHA-TG increases the abundance of Odoribacter. Importantly, DHA-PL and DHA-TG obviously attenuate the activation of microglia. CONCLUSIONS: DHA-PL shows outstanding advantages in regulating oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and intestinal barrier permeability. The current research indicates that the existence of DHA affects the improvement, DHA in phospholipid form could be a more effective choice for nutritional intervention to prevent and treat colitis.

Structural characterization of arabinogalactan extracted from Ixeris chinensis (Thunb.) Nakai and its immunomodulatory effect on RAW264.7 macrophages.

An arabinogalactan (ICPA) was isolated from the water extract of Ixeris chinensis (Thunb.) Nakai. ICPA was mainly composed of galactose and arabinose with minor amount of glucose. The molecular weight of ICPA was 58.1 kDa. Structural analysis by methylation and NMR spectroscopy indicated that ICPA contained α-D-Glcp(1→, →5)-α-L-Araf(1→, ß-D-Galf(1→, →3)-ß-D-Galf(1→, ß-D-Galp(1→, →6)-ß-D-Galp(1→, and â†’ 3,6)-ß-D-Galp(1→, and that the molar ratio of the sugar residues was about 0.1:1.0:0.1:0.2:1.1:1.0:1.3, respectively. The immunomodulatory activity on RAW264.7 cells was measured in vitro. ICPA stimulated RAW 264.7 cell proliferation at 25-400 µg/mL in a dose-dependent manner. ICPA also enhanced phagocytosis, and the secretion of NO, TNF-α, and IL-6 by the cells. The results suggested the potential utilization of ICPA as an immunomodulatory agent.

Structure characterization of low molecular weight sulfate Ulva polysaccharide and the effect of its derivative on iron deficiency anemia.

Sulfate Ulva polysaccharide with low molecular weight was prepared by enzymatic method and name SUE. The structural characterization of SUE and the effect of its derivative SUE-iron (III) on iron deficiency anemia were studied. Results showed SUE with molecular weight of 178 kDa were consisted of 57.9% rhamnose, 12.1% glucose, 16.3% glucuronic acid, and 13.7% xylose. The backbone contained (1 → 3, 4)-linked rhamnose, (1 → 4)-linked xylose, (1 → 6)-linked glucose and sulfate substitution was at C-3 of rhamnose. Due to high contents of sulfate group (23.7 ±â€¯1.1%) and uronic acid, SUE-iron (III) with 20.3% iron content was synthesized. In order to evaluate the effects of SUE-iron (III) supplementation, an IDA animal model was created. After iron supplement administration, the SUE­iron (III) showed effective effect on returning hemoglobin, red blood cells, serum iron, and erythropoietin to the normal levels. The hematological index of rats showed no difference from that in positive group. Besides, SUE-iron (III) is beneficial to alleviate inflammatory damage caused by IDA. These suggest that SUE-iron (III) might be exploited as safe and effective new iron supplement.