Shi Mao, Fan HongXiu, Liu HongCheng, Zhang YanRong
College of Food Science and Engineering, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
Jilin Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changchun, China.
Front Nutr. 2024 Sep 13;11:1435778. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1435778. eCollection 2024.
Aging brings about physiological dysfunction, disease, and eventual mortality. An increasing number of studies indicate that aging can easily lead to dysbiosis of the gut microbiota, which can further affect digestion, nerves, cognition, emotions, and more. Therefore, gut bacteria play an important role in regulating the physical functions of aging populations. While saponins, the primary components of , are frequently utilized for treating common ailments in the elderly due to their potent antioxidant properties, there is a scarcity of comprehensive studies on aging organisms. This study focused on 18 month old aging mice and investigated the effects of single intervention and combined intervention of R and R, the main components of Panax quinquefolium saponins, on the gut microbiota of aging mice. High throughput 16s RNA gene sequencing analysis was performed on the gut contents of the tested mice, and the results showed that R and R had a significant impact on the gut microbiota. R, R, and R + R can effectively enhance the diversity of gut microbiota, especially in the combined Rb1 + Re group, which can recover to the level of young mice. Re can promote the abundance of probiotics such as Lactobacillus, Lactobacillaceae, and Lactobacillus, and inhibit the abundance of harmful bacteria such as Enterobacteriaceae. This indicates that the intervention of R, R, and R + R can maintain the homeostasis of gut microbiota, and the combined application of R + R has a better effect. The relationship between aging, brain gut axis, and gut microbiota is very close. Saponins can improve the gut microbiota of aging individuals by maintaining the balance of gut microbiota and the normal function of the brain gut axis, enabling the body to achieve a gut microbiota homeostasis closer to that of young healthy mice.
衰老会导致生理功能障碍、疾病以及最终的死亡。越来越多的研究表明，衰老很容易导致肠道微生物群失调，进而进一步影响消化、神经、认知、情绪等。因此，肠道细菌在调节老年人群的身体功能方面发挥着重要作用。虽然人参皂苷作为人参的主要成分，因其强大的抗氧化特性而经常被用于治疗老年人的常见疾病，但针对衰老生物体的全面研究却很匮乏。本研究聚焦于18月龄的衰老小鼠，研究了西洋参皂苷的主要成分Rb1和Re单一干预及联合干预对衰老小鼠肠道微生物群的影响。对受试小鼠的肠道内容物进行了高通量16s RNA基因测序分析，结果表明Rb1和Re对肠道微生物群有显著影响。Rb1、Re以及Rb1+Re能有效提高肠道微生物群的多样性，尤其是在联合Rb1+Re组，其多样性可恢复到年轻小鼠的水平。Re可促进乳酸杆菌、乳杆菌科和乳酸菌等益生菌的丰度，并抑制肠杆菌科等有害细菌的丰度。这表明Rb1、Re和Rb1+Re的干预可维持肠道微生物群的稳态，且Rb1+Re联合应用效果更佳。衰老、脑-肠轴和肠道微生物群之间的关系非常密切。皂苷可通过维持肠道微生物群的平衡和脑-肠轴的正常功能来改善衰老个体的肠道微生物群，使机体实现更接近年轻健康小鼠的肠道微生物群稳态。
