Institute of Apiculture Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Nutrients. 2017 Aug 14;9(8):875. doi: 10.3390/nu9080875.
Propolis is an important hive product and considered beneficial to health. However, evidence of its potential for improving gut health is still lacking. Here we use rats to examine whether dietary supplementation with propolis could be used as a therapy for ulcerative colitis. Rats were fed with a Western style diet alone (controls) or supplemented with different amounts of Chinese propolis (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%) to examine effects on acute colitis induced by 3% dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) in drinking water. Propolis at 0.3%, but not lower levels, significantly improved colitis symptoms compared with the control group, with a less pronounced disease activity index (DAI) ( < 0.001), a significant increase in colon length/weight ratio ( < 0.05) and an improved distal colon tissue structure as assessed by histology. Although short chain fatty acid levels in digesta were not altered by propolis supplementation, 16S rRNA phylogenetic sequencing revealed a significant increase in gut microbial diversity after 21 days of 0.3% propolis supplementation compared with controls including a significant increase in bacteria belonging to the Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria phyla. This is the first study to demonstrate that propolis can attenuate DSS-induced colitis and provides new insight into diet-microbiota interactions during inflammatory bowel disease.
蜂胶是一种重要的蜂产品，被认为对健康有益。然而，其改善肠道健康的潜力的证据仍然缺乏。在这里，我们使用大鼠来研究膳食中补充蜂胶是否可以作为溃疡性结肠炎的一种治疗方法。大鼠单独喂食西式饮食（对照组）或补充不同量的中国蜂胶（0.1%、0.2%和 0.3%），以研究其对饮用水中 3%葡聚糖硫酸钠（DSS）诱导的急性结肠炎的影响。与对照组相比，蜂胶在 0.3%的水平上（而不是更低水平）显著改善了结肠炎症状，疾病活动指数（DAI）较低（<0.001），结肠长度/重量比显著增加（<0.05），组织学评估的远端结肠组织结构得到改善。尽管蜂胶补充剂并未改变粪便中的短链脂肪酸水平，但 16S rRNA 系统发育测序显示，与对照组相比，0.3%蜂胶补充 21 天后肠道微生物多样性显著增加，包括属于变形菌门和酸杆菌门的细菌显著增加。这是第一项表明蜂胶可以减轻 DSS 诱导的结肠炎的研究，并为炎症性肠病期间饮食-微生物群相互作用提供了新的见解。
