ABSTRACT
Hepatic steatosis is characterized by triglyceride accumulation within hepatocytes in response to a high calorie intake, and it may be related to intestinal microbiota disturbances. The prebiotic inulin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide with a high dietary fiber content. Here, we evaluate the effect of inulin on the intestinal microbiota in a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease model. Mice exposed to a standard rodent diet or a fat-enriched diet, were supplemented or not, with inulin. Liver histology was evaluated with oil red O and H&E staining and the intestinal microbiota was determined in mice fecal samples by 16S rRNA sequencing. Inulin treatment effectively prevents liver steatosis in the fat-enriched diet group. We also observed that inulin re-shaped the intestinal microbiota at the phylum level, were Verrucomicrobia genus significantly increased in the fat-diet group; specifically, we observed that Akkermansia muciniphila increased by 5-fold with inulin supplementation. The family Prevotellaceae was also significantly increased in the fat-diet group. Overall, we propose that inulin supplementation in liver steatosis-affected animals, promotes a remodeling in the intestinal microbiota composition, which might regulate lipid metabolism, thus contributing to tackling liver steatosis.
Subject(s)
Akkermansia/classification , Diet, High-Fat/adverse effects , Inulin/administration & dosage , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/drug therapy , Sequence Analysis, DNA/methods , Akkermansia/genetics , Akkermansia/isolation & purification , Animals , DNA, Bacterial/genetics , DNA, Ribosomal/genetics , Gastrointestinal Microbiome/drug effects , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing , Inulin/pharmacology , Lipid Metabolism/drug effects , Male , Mice , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/chemically induced , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/microbiology , Phylogeny , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/geneticsABSTRACT
Two homogeneous polysaccharides, GEP-3 and GEP-4, were purified from Gastrodia elata, a precious traditional Chinese medicine. Their structural characteristics were obtained using HPGPC, PMP-HPLC, LC/MS, FT-IR, NMR, and SEM methods. GEP-3 was 1,4-glucan with molecular weight of 20 kDa. Interestingly, GEP-4 comprised of a backbone of â[4)-α-Glcp-(1]10â[4)-α-Glcp-(1â]5[6)-ß-Glcp-(1]11â6)-α-Glcp-(3â and two branches of ß-Glcp and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol citrate, with repeating p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol attached to the backbone chain at O-6 position of â4,6)-α-Glcp-(1â and O-1 position of â3,6)-α-Glcp-(1â. GEP-4 is a novel polysaccharide obtained and characterized for the first time. Bioactivity test indicated that both of them significantly promote the growth of Akkermansia muciniphila (Akk. muciniphila). Furthermore, GEP-3 and GEP-4 promoted the growth of Akk. muciniphila from high-fat diet (HFD) fecal microbiota. These results indicated that GEP-3 and GEP-4 were potential Akk. muciniphila growth promoters.