State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
Department of Food Science and Engineering, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Jiangsu Province 210037, China.
Food Chem. 2021 Jun 30;348:129116. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129116. Epub 2021 Jan 16.
β-Glucan as a component of grain cell walls is consumed daily. However, little is known about whether β-glucan is influenced by the gastrointestinal environment. In this study, we aim to investigate the integrated metabolic process of cereal β-glucan. In vitro simulated digestion and fermentation combined with microbiome and metabolome analysis were used to profile the metabolism of β-glucan. Intriguingly, we found that β-glucan was not hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes but partially degraded by gastric acid environment during in vitro digestion. Moreover, β-glucan was utilized by gut microbiota to produce acetate, propionate and butyrate, concurrently, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus significantly increased and Escherichia-Shigella significantly decreased. The correlation analysis between metabolomics datasets and microorganisms revealed that β-glucan catabolism was also accompanied by amino acid catabolism and linoleic acid biosynthesis. Our study offered a forceful basis for the further exploration of the role of β-glucan and gut microbiota in host health.
β-葡聚糖作为谷物细胞壁的组成部分，每天都会被人体摄入。然而，人们对于β-葡聚糖是否会受到胃肠道环境的影响知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们旨在探究谷物β-葡聚糖的综合代谢过程。通过体外模拟消化和发酵，并结合微生物组和代谢组学分析，对β-葡聚糖的代谢情况进行了分析。有趣的是，我们发现β-葡聚糖不会被消化酶水解，但在体外消化过程中会被胃酸环境部分降解。此外，β-葡聚糖被肠道微生物利用产生乙酸、丙酸和丁酸，同时，乳杆菌的相对丰度显著增加，而埃希氏菌-志贺氏菌的相对丰度显著降低。代谢组学数据集和微生物之间的相关性分析表明，β-葡聚糖的代谢还伴随着氨基酸的代谢和亚油酸的生物合成。我们的研究为进一步探究β-葡聚糖和肠道微生物在宿主健康中的作用提供了有力的依据。
