The function of human milk oligosaccharides and their substitute oligosaccharides as probiotics in gut inflammation.

Gut inflammation seriously affects the healthy life of patients, and has a trend of increasing incidence rate. However, the current methods for treating gut inflammation are limited to surgery and drugs, which can cause irreversible damage to patients, especially infants. As natural oligosaccharides in human breast milk, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) function as probiotics in treating and preventing gut inflammation: improving the abundance of the gut microbiota, increasing the gut barrier function, and reducing the gut inflammatory reaction. Meanwhile, due to the complexity and high cost of their synthesis, people are searching for functional oligosaccharides that can replace HMOs as a food additive in infants milk powder and adjuvant therapy for chronic inflammation. The purpose of this review is to summarize the therapeutic and preventive effects of HMOs and their substitute functional oligosaccharides as probiotics in gut inflammation, and to summarize the prospect of their application in infant breast milk replacement in the future.

Information theoretic measures of causal influences during transient neural events.

Introduction: Transient phenomena play a key role in coordinating brain activity at multiple scales, however their underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. A key challenge for neural data science is thus to characterize the network interactions at play during these events. Methods: Using the formalism of Structural Causal Models and their graphical representation, we investigate the theoretical and empirical properties of Information Theory based causal strength measures in the context of recurring spontaneous transient events. Results: After showing the limitations of Transfer Entropy and Dynamic Causal Strength in this setting, we introduce a novel measure, relative Dynamic Causal Strength, and provide theoretical and empirical support for its benefits. Discussion: These methods are applied to simulated and experimentally recorded neural time series and provide results in agreement with our current understanding of the underlying brain circuits.

Algal polysaccharides and derivatives as potential therapeutics for obesity and related metabolic diseases.

The worldwide upward trend in obesity has been dramatic, but there is a lack of effective and safe drug treatment. Marine-derived algal polysaccharides, including fucoidan, alginate, polysaccharide of Spirulina platensis (PSP), ulvan, rhamnan sulfate (RS), laminarin, agar, and carrageenan, are widely used in combination with wound healing, drug delivery, and tissue-related biomedical research engineering. Recently, the prebiotic effects of algal polysaccharides and their related derivatives have received more and more attention. In this review, we discuss the potential and challenges of algal polysaccharides and their derivatives as potential therapeutic agents for obesity and its related metabolic diseases. Relevant studies have demonstrated that a variety of algal polysaccharides can play a significant role in weight loss and treatment of obesity-related metabolic diseases by improving the composition of gut microbiota, promoting bile acid formation, and upregulating cholesterol receptors in the liver. Because of their low price, non-toxic properties, and easy availability, algal polysaccharides have the potential to be developed as weight loss products.

Preventive effect of pectic oligosaccharides on acute colitis model mice: modulating epithelial barrier, gut microbiota and Treg/Th17 balance.

Pectin as a dietary fiber supplement has shown emerging potential in clinical ulcerative colitis (UC) adjuvant therapy. In this study, the preventive and prebiotic effects of enzymatically degraded pectic oligosaccharides (POS) were further explored in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis mice. The POS supplement (400 mg kg-1) was significantly effective at improving preventive efficacy, promoting colonic epithelial barrier integrity and reducing inflammatory cytokines. Meanwhile, the changes in T regulatory (Treg) cells and T helper 17 (Th17) cells indicated that POS treatment regulated the Treg/Th17 balance. Gut microbiota analysis showed that the POS supplement reshaped the dysfunctional gut microbiota. Further Spearman's correlation coefficient analysis indicated that the changes of the gut microbiota were highly associated with modulating the epithelial barrier, promoting the development of Treg cells and suppressing the differentiation of pro-inflammatory Th17 cells. All of these results suggest that enzymatically- degraded POS is a promising therapeutic agent for UC prevention and adjuvant treatment by maintaining intestinal homeostasis.

Isomaltulose alleviates acute colitis via modulating gut microbiota and the Treg/Th17 balance in mice.

Food-grade isomaltulose exhibits significant modulation of gut microbiota and its metabolites in healthy populations. This study further explored the preventive therapeutic effect and anti-colitis potential of isomaltulose on dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice. Our results suggested that isomaltulose played a significant role in preventing colon shortening, reducing intestinal epithelial destruction and inhibiting inflammatory cell infiltration. Meanwhile, the isomaltulose supplement greatly reduced the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and restored the balance between T helper type 17 (Th17) cells and regulatory T (Treg) cells. Pathway enrichment analysis for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) also indicated that the anti-inflammatory effect of isomaltulose was closely related to intestinal immunity. Moreover, the disturbed gut microbiota in ulcerative colitis (UC) was partially restored after treatment with isomaltulose. These results suggest that isomaltulose is a promising therapeutic agent for the prevention and adjunctive treatment of UC by maintaining intestinal immune homeostasis and remodeling the gut microbiota.