Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing and Safety, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China.
School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Nutrients. 2022 Feb 12;14(4):776. doi: 10.3390/nu14040776.
Certain foods are known as "heating" foods in Chinese medicine. Over-consumption of these foods can lead to symptoms known as "heating up". These symptoms have been shown to be symptoms of systemic low-grade inflammation. However, the mechanism by which these foods cause inflammation is not clear. In this preliminary study, we investigated dysbacteriosis of the gut microbiota as a possible cause of inflammation by litchi, a typical "heating" food. A human flora-associated (HFA) mouse model (donor: n = 1) was constructed. After gavaging the mice with litchi extract suspension at low, medium and high doses (400, 800, 1600 mg/kg·d, respectively) (n = 3) for 7 days, the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines, gut microbiota, the concentration of SCFAs and the integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier were measured. The results revealed significant increases in the abundance of and . A significant increase in the abundance of and a decrease in was observed in the high-dose group. High-dose litchi intervention led to a decrease of most SCFA levels in the intestine. It also caused a more than two-fold increase in the serum TNF-α level and LPS level but a decrease in the IL-1β and IL-6 levels. Medium- and high-dose litchi intervention caused widening of the intestinal epithelial cell junction complex and general weakening of the intestinal mucosal barrier as well as reduced energy conversion efficiency of the gut microbiota. These data suggest that litchi, when consumed excessively, can lead to a low degree of systematic inflammation and this is linked to its ability to cause dysbacteriosis of the gut microbiota, decrease SCFAs and weaken the intestinal mucosal tissues.
某些食物在中医中被称为“热性”食物。过量食用这些食物会导致“上火”的症状。这些症状已被证明是全身低度炎症的症状。然而，这些食物引起炎症的机制尚不清楚。在这项初步研究中，我们研究了荔枝作为一种典型的“热性”食物引起肠道微生物群落失调是否是炎症的原因。构建了人类菌群相关（HFA）小鼠模型（供体：n = 1）。用低、中、高剂量（400、800、1600 mg/kg·d，分别）（n = 3）的荔枝提取物混悬液灌胃小鼠 7 天后，测量血清炎症细胞因子水平、肠道微生物群、SCFAs 浓度和肠黏膜屏障的完整性。结果显示，和 的丰度显著增加。在高剂量组中观察到和 的丰度显著增加，而 的丰度降低。高剂量荔枝干预导致肠道中大多数 SCFA 水平下降。它还导致血清 TNF-α水平和 LPS 水平增加超过两倍，但 IL-1β和 IL-6 水平降低。中、高剂量荔枝干预导致肠道上皮细胞连接复合物变宽，肠黏膜屏障普遍减弱，以及肠道微生物群落的能量转换效率降低。这些数据表明，荔枝如果过量食用，可能会导致低度系统性炎症，这与其引起肠道微生物群落失调、降低 SCFAs 和削弱肠黏膜组织的能力有关。
