Pseudostellaria heterophylla improves intestinal microecology through modulating gut microbiota and metabolites in mice

作者：Shengkai Zhang, Tao Kang, Antonino Malacrinò, Zhen Zhang, Zhongyi Zhang, Wenxiong Lin, Hongmiao Wu · 发表于：Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1002/jsfa.13453 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Gut microbiota and health、Agriculture and Biological Studies、Medicinal Plants and Bioactive Compounds

BACKGROUND: Pseudostellaria heterophylla is a Chinese medicine and healthy edible that is widely used to for its immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic and antitussive properties. However, the potential function of P. heterophylla in intestinal microecology remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact of P. heterophylla on immune functions and evaluated its potential to regulate the gut microbiota and metabolome. RESULTS: The results showed that P. heterophylla significantly increased the content of red blood cells, total antioxidant capacity and expression of immune factors, and decreased platelet counts when compared to the control under cyclophosphamide injury. In addition, P. heterophylla altered the diversity and composition of the gut bacterial community; increased the abundance of potentially beneficial Akkermansia, Roseburia, unclassified Clostridiaceae, Mucispirillum, Anaeroplasma and Parabacteroides; and decreased the relative abundance of pathogenic Cupriavidus and Staphylococcus in healthy mice. Metabolomic analyses showed that P. heterophylla significantly increased the content of functional oligosaccharides, common oligosaccharides, vitamins and functional substances. Probiotics and pathogens were regulated by metabolites across 11 pathways in the bacterial-host co-metabolism network. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that P. heterophylla increased the abundance of probiotics and decreased pathogens, and further stimulated host microbes to produce b...