Zhang Xiushan, Cui Yanmin, Zhang Zuoyi, Huang Xin, Zhang Xiaowei, Hu Xiaopei, Li Tuoping, Li Suhong
College of Food Science, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110161, China.
Food Funct. 2025 Feb 17;16(4):1205-1217. doi: 10.1039/d4fo04686b.
Pectin is an acidic heteropolysaccharide with natural, green, and inexpensive characteristics. Compared to polysaccharides, oligosaccharides are more easily utilized by the body, and the physiological function of hawthorn pectin oligosaccharides (POS) may vary depending on their degree of polymerization (DP). Therefore, we mainly studied the effects of hawthorn pectin (HP) and POS with different DP on gut microbiota disorders induced by high-fat diet (HFD). HP and POS both improved weight gain, dyslipidemia, and glucose homeostasis caused by HFD, and increased serum GLP-1 levels. Meanwhile, the increased expression of Gcg and Pcsk1 genes in the ileum of the treatment group further confirmed this result. In addition, HP and POS reduced certain opportunistic pathogens, while restoring the richness and diversity of the gut microbiota. Meanwhile, HP and POS can improve intestinal barrier dysfunction by increasing the claudin-1, occludin, ZO-1, and MUC2 genes. Furthermore, fecal metabolomics suggests that POS may enhance linoleic acid synthesis and improve lipid metabolism by upregulating 9,10-DHOME ((12)-9,10-dihydroxyoctadec-12-enoic acid), while HP cannot. Overall, the research results indicate that both HP and POS can improve the weight phenotype changes, gut microbiota disruption, and metabolites changes caused by HFD. Particularly, POS has a better effect than HP, and there are differences in the improvement effect of POS with different DP, among which POS with DP 5 has the most significant improvement effect. This discovery enhances a deeper comprehension of the biological activity of different POS, providing an important basis for further optimizing the application of POS as a functional food.
果胶是一种具有天然、绿色且廉价特性的酸性杂多糖。与多糖相比，低聚糖更易被人体利用，且山楂果胶低聚糖（POS）的生理功能可能因其聚合度（DP）不同而有所差异。因此，我们主要研究了不同DP的山楂果胶（HP）和POS对高脂饮食（HFD）诱导的肠道微生物群紊乱的影响。HP和POS均改善了由HFD引起的体重增加、血脂异常和葡萄糖稳态，并提高了血清胰高血糖素样肽-1（GLP-1）水平。同时，治疗组回肠中胃泌素基因（Gcg）和前蛋白转化酶枯草溶菌素1基因（Pcsk1）表达的增加进一步证实了这一结果。此外，HP和POS减少了某些机会致病菌，同时恢复了肠道微生物群的丰富度和多样性。同时，HP和POS可通过增加闭合蛋白-1、闭锁蛋白、紧密连接蛋白-1（ZO-1）和黏蛋白2基因来改善肠道屏障功能障碍。此外，粪便代谢组学表明，POS可能通过上调9,10-二羟基十八碳-12-烯酸（9,10-DHOME）来增强亚油酸合成并改善脂质代谢，而HP则不能。总体而言，研究结果表明，HP和POS均可改善由HFD引起的体重表型变化、肠道微生物群破坏和代谢物变化。特别是，POS的效果优于HP，且不同DP的POS改善效果存在差异，其中DP为5的POS改善效果最为显著。这一发现加深了对不同POS生物活性的理解，为进一步优化POS作为功能性食品的应用提供了重要依据。
