Impact of Lycium barbarum arabinogalactan on the fecal metabolome in a DSS-induced chronic colitis mouse model.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is often accompanied by the dysbiosis of gut microbiota and metabolism. Our previous study indicated that arabinogalactan from Lycium barbarum (LBP-3) could markedly attenuate the symptoms of chronic UC in mice by modulating the structure of gut microbiota. This study explored the impact of LBP-3 on the fecal metabolomic profiling of the same cohort of mice by HPLC-TripleTOF/MS. Untargeted metabolomic analyses indicated that supplementation with LBP-3 markedly reversed 18 of the 48 differential metabolites (mainly belonging to amino acids and organic acids) disturbed by DSS. Targeted metabolomics revealed that the lower levels of tryptophan, lysine, diiodothyronine, kynurenine, and betaine and higher levels of phenylalanine, leucine, glutamine, isoleucine, homoserine, (S)-2-hydroxyglutarate, 2-isopropylmalic acid, ascorbic acid, gluconic acid, and taurine, which were caused by DSS induction, were reversed by LBP-3 treatment. In addition, pathway analysis showed that the pentose phosphate pathway, phenylalanine metabolism, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, and phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis were strongly affected by LBP-3. More importantly, the above amino acids, organic acids, and metabolic pathways changed by LBP-3 were correlated with the abundance of gut microbiota such as Turicibacter, Lactobacillus, Parasutterella, Odoribacter, Veillonella, Faecalibacterium, and Ruminococcaceae. This study advances our understanding of the interaction between the microbiome and metabolomics in DSS-induced chronic colitis after LBP-3 treatment.

Gut microbiota response to sulfated sea cucumber polysaccharides in a differential manner using an in vitro fermentation model.

Sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus has been consumed as high-valued seafood in Asian, and its sulfated polysaccharide (SCSPsj) has been inferred to benefit the host health via modulating gut microbiota composition. The present study compared the responses of gut microbiota communities from different donors to SCSPsj, and the key bacteria were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis and in vitro fermentation with specific bacteria. Gut microbiota communities from 6 donors (A ~ F) utilized the polysaccharides to different degrees in vitro fermentation. Further comparison of Samples A and C demonstrated that Sample C with the relatively strong SCSPsj utilization capability possessed more Parabacteroides while Sample A contained more Bacteroides. Further in vitro fermentation of SCSPsj with 10 Parabacteroides and Bacteroides species suggests that Parabacteroides distasonis, enriched in Sample C, plays a critical role in the utilization of the polysaccharides. Moreover, short chain fatty acids and the metabolite profiles of Samples A and C were also compared, and the results showed that more beneficial metabolites were accumulated by the microbiota community consuming more sulfated sea cucumber polysaccharides. Our findings revealed that certain key members of gut microbiota, such as Parabacteroides distasonis, are critical for SCSPsj utilization in gut so as to influence the benefits of the polysaccharide supplement for host. Thus, to obtain better functional outcome for sulfated sea cucumber polysaccharides and sea cucumber, more attention needs to be paid to the effects of inter-individual differences in microbiota community structure.

[Effects of microbial fertilizer on soil improvement and fruit quality of kiwifruit in old orchard.] / 微生物肥料对猕猴桃高龄果园土壤改良和果实品质的影响.

The continuous cropping obstacles caused by the increase of kiwifruit planting period resulted in imbalance of soil microbial community structure, and decrease of soil enzyme activity and physicochemical indicators, which substantially reduced both the quality and yield of kiwifruit. Under the field conditions, the traditional fertilization of fruit farmers was used as a control (CK) to study the effects of two different microbial fertilizers, JF and KF, which had been verified the growth promotion of kiwifruit aseptic seedlings test, on soil microbial community structure, soil enzyme activities, soil physicochemical characters during different growth periods of kiwifruit (germination period, florescence period, fruit enlargement period, fruit ripening period and next year germination period), as well as fruit quality. The results showed that both fertilizers significantly increased the ratio of bacteria with fungi and the ratio of actinomycetes with fungi in the kiwifruit orchard soil, indicating that they could improve and balance the soil microbial community structure. The enzymes activity in kiwifruit orchard soil with the addition of both fertilizers were significantly higher than that in CK, and among which sucrose, urease, phosphatase and polyphenol oxidase were increased by 17.9%-83.5%, 7.9%-83.0%, 7.3%-45.4% and 8.1%-140.3%, respectively. JF and KF increased soil fertility (the concentrations of available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, and organic matter content significantly increased) and decreased soil pH (a decrease of 0.29 to 0.34). After application of microbial ferti-lizer, the content of vitamin C, soluble sugar, soluble protein and other contents of kiwifruit increased, and the titratable acid content decreased. Therefore, the application of both fertilizers could balance soil microbial community structure, enhance soil fertility, and improve the fruit quality of kiwifruit. Our results provide robust theoretical basis for the application of microbial fertilizers in the old-aged kiwifruit orchards.

Tetramethylpyrazine induces SH-SY5Y cell differentiation toward the neuronal phenotype through activation of the PI3K/Akt/Sp1/TopoIIß pathway.

Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) is an active compound extracted from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Chuanxiong. Previously, we have shown that TMP induces human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell differentiation toward the neuronal phenotype by targeting topoisomeraseIIß (TopoIIß), a protein implicated in neural development. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate whether the transcriptional factors specificity protein 1 (Sp1) and nuclear factor Y (NF-Y), in addition to the upstream signaling pathways ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt, are involved in modulating TopoIIß expression in the neuronal differentiation process. We demonstrated that SH-SY5Y cells treated with TMP (80µM) terminally differentiated into neurons, characterized by increased neuronal markers, tubulin ßIII and microtubule associated protein 2 (MAP2), and increased neurite outgrowth, with no negative effect on cell survival. TMP also increased the expression of TopoIIß, which was accompanied by increased expression of Sp1 in the differentiated neuron-like cells, whereas NF-Y protein levels remained unchanged following the differentiation progression. We also found that the phosphorylation level of Akt, but not ERK1/2, was significantly increased as a result of TMP stimulation. Furthermore, as established by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway increased Sp1 binding to the promoter of the TopoIIß gene. Blockage of PI3K/Akt was shown to lead to subsequent inhibition of TopoIIß expression and neuronal differentiation. Collectively, the results indicate that the PI3K/Akt/Sp1/TopoIIß signaling pathway is necessary for TMP-induced neuronal differentiation. Our findings offer mechanistic insights into understanding the upstream regulation of TopoIIß in neuronal differentiation, and suggest potential applications of TMP both in neuroscience research and clinical practice to treat relevant diseases of the nervous system.

[Influence of Cibotium barametz and its processed samples on haemorheology index in mice with adjuvant arthritis].

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the influence of the rhizome of Cibotium barametz on the heamorheology index in mice with adjuvant arthritis and to compare the effect of raw medicinals with that of the processed ones. METHOD: Mice was injected with Freund's complete adjuvant on the rihgt behind foot to make model of adjuvant arthritis (AA). Hydroxyacrbamide tablets were orally administrated by mice with AA to make model of AA due to deficiency in the kidney (DK-AA). And then we determined the heamorheology index of the normal group, positive control group, AA group, DK-AA group and medicinals-treated groups. RESULT: In the groups of AA, and DK-AA, the heamorheology index, such as high shearing, middle shearing, low shearing, plasma viscosity, whole blood reduction viscosity, erythrocyte aggregation exponent, erythrocyte degeneration exponent, sedimentation, sedimentation equation K value, erythrocyte rigidity exponent, erythrocyte electrophoresis time, casson viscosity, casson yield stress, increased significantly. After treated with Cibotium barametz, the heamorheology index except red blood count, packed cell volume, fibrinogen decreased obviously to get normal. CONCLUSION: Rhizome of Cibotium barametz could promote heamorheology in mice with AA and DK-AA to exhibit effect of promoting blood circulation and remove blood stasis. The medicinal rhizomes processed with sand have the effect enhanced.