Effects of melanin from Sepiella Maindroni ink (MSMI) on the intestinal Microbiome of mice

Hui Dong,Weiwei Song,Ronghua Li,Chunlin Wang,Changkao Mu

doi:10.1186/s12866-017-1058-7

Abstract

BackgroundBy the search for new natural compounds with beneficial health effects, cephalopod ink has been considered as an attempt to develop new drugs and functional foods, which is an especially active field in Asia, where cephalopods are a major fishery catch, for which ink sacs are a bi-product and where homeopathic medicine has deep roots. There is a demand to evaluate the safety and influence to the organism. The specific composition and relative abundance of the gut microbiota, which is potentially a major modulator of host metabolism, drives the interaction between functional foods and host health. We explore the effects of melanin from Sepiella Maindroni, most common cuttlefish in China, on the intestinal microbiome of mice.ResultsICR mice were randomly divided four groups, which were normal group (S), low melanin dose group (D; 120 mg/kg), medium melanin dose group (Z; 240 mg/kg), and high melanin dose group (G; 480 mg/kg). Melanin was delivered for 28 consecutive days. Fecal samples were used to generate 7715 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) via high-throughput sequencing. There were significant shifts in relative abundance of the dominant taxa at the phylum, class, order, family, and genus levels following melanin treatment.ConclusionsMSMI had no significant effect on the structure of intestinal flora in mice. The main effect was in the proportion of dominant bacterial communities. The effect positively correlated with the dose. From a health point of view, the use of melanin does not cause intestinal flora disorder. Our results may have important implications for MSMI as functional food component and potential therapeutic for manipulating gut microbiota.

Highlights

By the search for new natural compounds with beneficial health effects, cephalopod ink has been considered as an attempt to develop new drugs and functional foods, which is an especially active field in Asia, where cephalopods are a major fishery catch, for which ink sacs are a bi-product and where homeopathic medicine has deep roots
Cephalopod ink is a mixture of the co-secretions from the ink sac including glycosaminoglycan-like polysaccharides [7], a tyrosinase, and melanin
Overall structural characteristics of the fecal bacteria Mice were divided into four groups, normal control group (S), low Sepiella Maindroni Ink (MSMI) dose(D), medium MSMI dose(Z), and high MSMI dose(G), in which all of the males completed sampling after delivered for 28 consecutive days.There were 420,585 total reads, and 257,996 high quality reads generated from the fecal samples These were grouped into 7715 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (Table 1) based on 97% similarity

Summary

Introduction

By the search for new natural compounds with beneficial health effects, cephalopod ink has been considered as an attempt to develop new drugs and functional foods, which is an especially active field in Asia, where cephalopods are a major fishery catch, for which ink sacs are a bi-product and where homeopathic medicine has deep roots. There is a long history of using cephalopod ink as medicine and food. Health benefits have been ascribed to cephalopod ink as a traditional medicine, both in Western culture (ancient Greece and Rome) and Eastern culture (China) [3]. Recent medical research proposed that cephalopod ink is a multifunctional bioactive marine drug and has the functions of antitumor, antioxidant, Cephalopod ink is a mixture of the co-secretions from the ink sac including glycosaminoglycan-like polysaccharides [7], a tyrosinase, and melanin. The main monomer, the 5, 6dihydroxyindole (DHI), and the 5, 6-dihydroxyinodole-2carboxylic acid (DHICA) [8] are the build blocks of

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