Abstract
The prebiotic potential of nervine herbal medicines has been scarcely studied. We therefore used anaerobic human fecal cultivation to investigate whether medicinal herbs commonly used as treatment in neurological health and disease in Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine modulate gut microbiota. Profiling of fecal cultures supplemented with either Kapikacchu, Gotu Kola, Bacopa/Brahmi, Shankhapushpi, Boswellia/Frankincense, Jatamansi, Bhringaraj, Guduchi, Ashwagandha or Shatavari by 16S rRNA sequencing revealed profound changes in diverse taxa. Principal coordinate analysis highlights that each herb drives the formation of unique microbial communities predicted to display unique metabolic potential. The relative abundance of approximately one-third of the 243 enumerated species was altered by all herbs. Additional species were impacted in an herb-specific manner. In this study, we combine genome reconstruction of sugar utilization and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) pathways encoded in the genomes of 216 profiled taxa with monosaccharide composition analysis of each medicinal herb by quantitative mass spectrometry to enhance the interpretation of resulting microbial communities and discern potential drivers of microbiota restructuring. Collectively, our results indicate that gut microbiota engage in both protein and glycan catabolism, providing amino acid and sugar substrates that are consumed by fermentative species. We identified taxa that are efficient amino acid fermenters and those capable of both amino acid and sugar fermentation. Herb-induced microbial communities are predicted to alter the relative abundance of taxa encoding SCFA (butyrate and propionate) pathways. Co-occurrence network analyses identified a large number of taxa pairs in medicinal herb cultures. Some of these pairs displayed related culture growth relationships in replicate cultures highlighting potential functional interactions among medicinal herb-induced taxa.
Highlights
Millions of individuals are adversely affected by neurodegenerative disease worldwide [1]
A burgeoning need exists for the evaluation of the efficacy of these products and the investigation of mechanisms of action through which medicinal herbs impinge on the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and to safely support cognition in healthy individuals
16S rRNA analysis revealed an estimated 317 distinct taxa, and we further analyzed 243 taxa that were observed at an average relative abundance >0.01% in at least one culture condition
Summary
Millions of individuals are adversely affected by neurodegenerative disease worldwide [1]. Global health improvements have increased human lifespan, which further exacerbates this disease burden. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), represent a heterogenous group of disorders that promote deterioration of the central and/or peripheral nervous systems and affect an estimated 1% and 8% of the population, respectively [2]. Nootropics, which are drugs, supplements or herbal medicines that exert action on the nervous system for increased mental performance, are increasingly used by both healthy individuals and individuals with neurodegenerative diseases [3,4,5]. A burgeoning need exists for the evaluation of the efficacy of these products and the investigation of mechanisms of action through which medicinal herbs impinge on the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and to safely support cognition in healthy individuals
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