Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
The Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
Food Funct. 2022 Apr 4;13(7):3993-4008. doi: 10.1039/d2fo00008c.
Chronic constipation is an extremely common gastrointestinal disorder that severely affects the life quality of the elderly. As an edible food and therapeutic medicine, (CD) has been widely used not only as food in daily life, but also as a medicine to treat constipation. As the main component in CD, polysaccharide shows great potentials in improving constipation in the elderly. In this study, 16S rRNA analysis and fecal metabolomics were applied to investigate the impacts of constipation in an aged rat model, as well as the regulatory effects and the underlying mechanisms of CD polysaccharide (CDPS). Firstly, a classic constipation model of aged rats was constructed. The behavioral indicators of the rats were analyzed, providing behavioral correlations at the macro level. Meanwhile, the levels of SOD, GSH-Px, MDA, and CAT in serum samples of the rats were assessed. Additionally, the changes of gut microbiota, fecal metabolites and corresponding metabolic pathways in the aged constipated rats were demonstrated. On top of this, inter-and inner-layer networks of "behavioral indicators - intestinal bacteria - metabolites" were constructed to visually demonstrate the relationships among differential indicators. We found that CDPS significantly regulated the abnormalities of the behavioral indexes, the microbial richness and diversity, and the metabolite profiles that were induced by constipation in the aged rats. From the intestinal microbiological point of view, CDPS significantly increased the prevalence of beneficial bacteria while reducing the potentially pathogenic bacterial population. In terms of metabolomics, a total of 16 metabolites were finally identified as potential biomarkers of constipation in the aged rats. The mechanisms of CDPS were mainly involved in metabolic energy and the synthesis of amino acids. The current findings not only deepen our understanding about constipation in the elderly from the perspectives of microbiome and metabolomics, but also lay a solid foundation for the applications of polysaccharides in constipation in the elderly, the discovery of new medicines for constipation, and improving the life quality of the elderly.
慢性便秘是一种极其常见的胃肠道疾病，严重影响老年人的生活质量。作为一种可食用的食品和治疗药物，（CD）不仅在日常生活中被广泛用作食品，也被用作治疗便秘的药物。作为 CD 的主要成分，多糖在改善老年人便秘方面具有很大的潜力。在这项研究中，应用 16S rRNA 分析和粪便代谢组学来研究便秘对老年大鼠模型的影响，以及 CD 多糖（CDPS）的调节作用和潜在机制。首先，构建了经典的老年大鼠便秘模型。分析了大鼠的行为指标，提供了宏观水平的行为相关性。同时，评估了大鼠血清样本中 SOD、GSH-Px、MDA 和 CAT 的水平。此外，还展示了老年便秘大鼠肠道微生物群、粪便代谢物及其相应代谢途径的变化。在此基础上，构建了“行为指标-肠道细菌-代谢物”的内外层网络，直观地展示了差异指标之间的关系。我们发现，CDPS 显著调节了由便秘引起的老年大鼠行为指标、微生物丰富度和多样性以及代谢物谱的异常。从肠道微生物学的角度来看，CDPS 显著增加了有益细菌的流行率，同时减少了潜在的致病细菌种群。在代谢组学方面，最终确定了 16 种代谢物作为老年大鼠便秘的潜在生物标志物。CDPS 的作用机制主要涉及代谢能量和氨基酸的合成。目前的研究结果不仅从微生物组学和代谢组学的角度加深了我们对老年人便秘的认识，而且为多糖在老年人便秘中的应用、便秘新药的发现以及提高老年人的生活质量奠定了坚实的基础。
