College of Biological Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, P. R. China.
Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biological Processing and Nutritional Function of Wheat, Zhengzhou, 450001, P. R. China.
World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021 Mar 18;37(4):64. doi: 10.1007/s11274-021-03034-1.
The wheat germ protein (WG) and it's proteolytic peptide have a variety of biological activities. Our previous work showed that WG could improve immunity of the immunosuppressive mice established by cyclophosphamide. However, in the healthy condition and normal diet, as a supplementary food, the effects of immunity improvement and gut microbiota remodeling by the wheat germ globulin has not been studied yet. Here, we reported that WG could improve the immunity and remodel the gut microbiota of the mice, as a potentially safe functional supplementary food for the first time. The increase of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the decrease of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) indicated that WG could enhance the levels of activated T cells and monocytes and anti-inflammatory ability, meanwhile, the significant increase of immunoglobin G (lgG) and the notable decrease of the immunoglobin M (lgM) and immunoglobin A (lgA) illustrated that WG could improve immunity by promoting the differentiation and maturation process of B cells, compared with the NC group (normal control group). 16S rRNA sequencing showed WG could remodel the gut microbiota. At the phylum level, the Bacteroidetes were reduced and Firmicutes were increased in WG group, compared with NC group. At the genus level, the SCFA producing genera of unclassified_f_Lachnospiraceae, Blautia and especially the Roseburia (increased more than threefold) increased notably. Further, the level changes of cytokines and immunoglobulins were associated with the gut microbiota. This work showed that WG could improve immunity and has potential application value as an immune-enhancing functional food.
麦胚球蛋白及其酶解肽具有多种生物活性。我们之前的工作表明，麦胚球蛋白可以改善环磷酰胺建立的免疫抑制小鼠的免疫力。然而，在健康状态和正常饮食下，作为一种补充食品，麦胚球蛋白对改善免疫力和重塑肠道微生物群的作用尚未得到研究。本文首次报道麦胚球蛋白作为一种具有潜在安全性的功能性补充食品，可以改善小鼠的免疫力和重塑肠道微生物群。白细胞介素-6（IL-6）的增加和肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素-10（IL-10）的减少表明，麦胚球蛋白可以增强活化 T 细胞和单核细胞的水平和抗炎能力，同时，免疫球蛋白 G（lgG）的显著增加和免疫球蛋白 M（lgM）和免疫球蛋白 A（lgA）的显著减少表明，麦胚球蛋白可以通过促进 B 细胞的分化和成熟过程来改善免疫力，与 NC 组（正常对照组）相比。16S rRNA 测序显示，麦胚球蛋白可以重塑肠道微生物群。在门水平上，与 NC 组相比，WG 组的拟杆菌门减少，厚壁菌门增加。在属水平上，未分类 f_Lachnospiraceae、Blautia 和特别是 Roseburia（增加了三倍以上）等产生 SCFA 的属显著增加。此外，细胞因子和免疫球蛋白的水平变化与肠道微生物群有关。这项工作表明，麦胚球蛋白可以改善免疫力，作为一种免疫增强的功能性食品具有潜在的应用价值。
