Chickpea Extract Ameliorates Metabolic Syndrome Symptoms via Restoring Intestinal Ecology and Metabolic Profile in Type 2 Diabetic Rats.

SCOPE: Chickpeas have been recognized as a natural Uyghur medicine in Xinjiang (China) for 2500 years. Although the phenotypic effect on obesity or diabetes was authenticated, the mechanism was unclear. This work aims to study the effect of chickpea extract (CE) on metabolic syndrome induced by type 2 diabetes and to reveal its related mechanisms, focusing on intestinal flora and metabolomics. METHODS AND RESULTS: Diabetic rats are induced by a high-fat diet and intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. CE supplementation (3 g kg-1 ) for 4 weeks improved the hyperglycemia, inflammatory state, and organ functions of diabetic rats. The metabolic profile trajectories of urine and faeces obtained by NMR have good separations among all groups, and CE significantly increases the contents of SCFAs in the cecum. Moreover, CE relieves intestinal dysbiosis by increasing the abundance of SCFAs-producing bacteria (e.g., Enterococcaceae) but reduces conditional pathogenic bacteria (e.g., Corynebacterium). PICRUSt predicts the functions of gut microbiome from the 16S rRNA gene sequences and metagenome, and finds that CE restored amino acids degradation, bile acids metabolism, and carbohydrate metabolism. CONCLUSION: This study elucidates the role of CE from the perspective of metabolomics and the microbiota, which provides evidence for chickpea as a prebiotic to prevent diabetes.

Supplementation with compound polysaccharides contributes to the development and metabolic activity of young rat intestinal microbiota.

Dietary intervention during early life has a significant impact on colonization of the gut microbiota. In addition, some polysaccharides have the potential to selectively stimulate the growth and metabolic activity of intestinal bacteria associated with health and well-being. However, less is known about the effect of polysaccharides on the development of gut microbiota in younger individuals. This study was conducted to investigate the health effects of supplementation with dietary compound polysaccharides (Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP), Poria cocos polysaccharides (PCPs) and Lentinan, 1 : 1 : 1) on the intestinal microecosystem and metabolism of young rats. Male 21-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats received daily intragastric administration of either compound polysaccharides (three dosages, 6 g kg-1, 12 g kg-1 or 24 g kg-1) or saline for 28 consecutive days. 1H-NMR spectroscopy integrated with multi-variate pattern recognition analysis was applied to reveal the metabolism of the host and microflora, while 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to monitor the dynamic changes in the gut microbiota. The relative concentrations of 35 urinary metabolites and 24 faecal metabolites were significantly changed compared with the control group. 16S rRNA analysis showed that the relative abundances of 4 bacterial genera (Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Allobaculum and Oligella) significantly increased, whereas the relative abundance of 1 bacterial genus (Enterococcus) significantly declined in the compound polysaccharide-treated groups compared with the control group. Meanwhile, dietary compound polysaccharide treatment promoted the functional maturation of the gut bacterial community, characterised by increased basic metabolism (amino acid metabolism and energy metabolism), short chain fatty acid (SCFA)-related metabolism and nucleotide metabolism. These findings suggest that compound polysaccharides may help to promote the colonisation and functional maturation of infant intestinal microbiota and maintain the health of the intestinal microecosystem.

Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Decoction Ameliorates Hyperglycemia and Insulin Resistant in Association With Gut Microbiota Modulation.

Background: Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Decoction (HLJDD), a prescription of traditional Chinese medicine, has been clinically used to treat diabetes for thousands of years and its mechanism was reported to be related to gut microbiota. However, no study has explored the effect of HLJDD on the gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) yet. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the modulation of gut microbiota induced by HLJDD treatment in T2DM in order to unveil the underlying mechanism. Methods: A combination of high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ) was used to induce T2DM in rats. Bacterial communities in the fecal samples from the control group, the T2DM model group, and the HLJDD-treated T2DM group were analyzed by 16S gene sequencing, followed with a subset sample analyzed by shotgun sequencing. Results: The HLJDD treatment significantly ameliorated hyperglycemia and inflammation in T2DM rats. Additionally, our results indicated that HLJDD treatment could not only restore the gut dysbiosis in T2DM rats, which was proved by an increasing amount of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing and anti-inflammatory bacteria such as Parabacteroides, Blautia, and Akkermansia as well as a decreasing amount of conditioned pathogenic bacteria (e.g., Aerococcus, Staphylococcus, and Corynebacterium), but also modulate the dysregulated function of gut microbiome in T2DM rats, including an up-regulation in bile acid biosynthesis as well as a reduction in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and nucleotide metabolism. Conclusion: HLJDD treatment could ameliorate hyperglycemia and restore the dysregulated microbiota structure and function to a normal condition mainly by increasing SCFAs-producing bacteria and reducing conditioned pathogenic bacteria in T2DM rats, which provides insights into the mechanism of HLJDD treatment for T2DM from the view of gut microbiota.

Metabolomics insights into the modulatory effects of long-term compound polysaccharide intake in high-fat diet-induced obese rats.

BACKGROUND: Polysaccharides can alleviate obesity in mammals; however, studies on mechanism of this alleviation are limited. A few studies have indicated that polysaccharides improve obesity by regulating the metabolism of the body. Therefore, a metabolomics approach, consisting of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and a multivariate statistical technique, was applied to explore the mechanism of the protective effects of lentinan and Flos Lonicera polysaccharides (LF) on high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity. METHODS: In this study, rats were randomly divided into three groups: control diet (CD), HFD, and HFD supplemented with a mixture of lentinan and Flos Lonicera polysaccharide. Histopathological and clinical biochemical assessments were also conducted. A combination of a NMR metabolomics study and a multivariable statistical analysis method to distinguish urinary and fecal metabolites was applied. RESULTS: Significant obesity symptoms appeared in HFD rats (for example, significant weight gain, epididymal adipose accumulation and lipid deposition in hepatocytes), which was attenuated in the LF group. Additionally, the HFD induced a reduction of choline, citrate, pyruvate and glycerol and increased the levels of trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) and taurine. Of note, these metabolic disorders were reversed by LF intervention mainly through pathways of energy metabolism, choline metabolism and gut microbiota metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: LF supplementation had a re-balancing effect on the disturbed metabolic pathways in the obese body. The results of this study validate the therapeutic effect of the compound polysaccharide--LF in obesity and described the biochemical and metabolic mechanisms involved.

Metabonomic strategy for the detection of metabolic effects of probiotics combined with prebiotic supplementation in weaned rats.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of probiotics combined with prebiotics (PP) supplementation on weaned rat metabolism. A metabonomic strategy employing 1H-NMR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis was used to examine weaned rat biological responses to PP supplementation. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (post-natal day 21, PD 21) received probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM (L-NCFM) and Bifidobacterium lactis Bi-07 (B-LBi07), 1 : 1, 1.0 × 1011 cfu kg-1) and prebiotics (Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP), Poria cocos polysaccharides (PCPs) and Lentinan, 1 : 1 : 1, 24 g kg-1) via intragastric administration for 28 consecutive days. Urine and feces were collected for analysis. Significant topographical metabolic variations were present in urine and feces. Urinary metabolites upregulated by PP treatment included alanine, N-acetylglycine, glutamine, dimethylamine, phosphorylcholine, ethylene glycol, mannitol, phenylacetylglycine and glycoate, which were related to alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, and choline metabolism. Feces-derived metabolites, including caproate, valerate, butyrate, propionate, lactate, acetate, succinate, methanol, threonine and methionine, were significantly increased, which were related to short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) metabolism and TCA cycle metabolism. These results indicate that dietary PP supplementation can regulate common systemic metabolic processes, including energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, nucleic acid metabolism, and gut microbiota-related metabolism. This study also illuminates the vital role of PP supplementation in regulating the metabolism of weaned rats.