Abstract
Fucoidan is a kind of polysaccharide with antitumor and antioxidant properties, which is mainly isolated from brown algae. Although there are many reports about the prebiotic effects of polysaccharides on hosts, there are few reports about the effects of fucoidan on blood biochemical indexes, intestinal microbiome, and metabolic function on healthy hosts. We applied 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and LC-MS/MS metabolomics to evaluate the changes in the gut microbiome and metabolite profiles of fucoidan treatment in mice over 10 weeks. Fucoidan treatment modulated lipid metabolism, including significantly decreasing serum triglyceride level in healthy mice. Fucoidan also significantly inhibited serum lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) concentration, a biomarker of endotoxemia. Correlation analysis further showed that Lactobacillus animalis populations that were enriched by fucoidan demonstrated significantly negative correlations with serum triglyceride level. The abundance of Lactobacillus gasseri and Lactobacillus reuteri, increased by fucoidan supplementation, demonstrated significantly negative correlation with lipopolysaccharide-binding protein levels. Lactobacillus gasseri also demonstrated significantly positive correlations with three tryptophan-related metabolites, including indoleacrylic acid, 3-indoleacrylic acid, and 5-hydroxytryptamine, which were all increased by fucoidan administration. Combined with the previous evidence, the results indicate that fucoidan exerts prebiotic effects, such as lipid metabolism suppression and metabolic endotoxemia suppression, by modulating the abundance of gut microbiota, such as Lactobacillus animalis, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Lactobacillus reuteri, as well as microbiota-dependent metabolites, such as tryptophan-related metabolites.
Highlights
The gut microbiota is a complex microbial ecosystem, the homeostasis of which is essential for host health
There was no significant difference in average body weight gain between the fucoidan and control groups (Figure A1)
The changes in bacterial communities after 10 weeks of fucoidan administration were analyzed by nonmetric multidimensional scaling, which demonstrated a distinct clustering of microbiota composition for the control and fucoidan groups (Figure A2)
Summary
The gut microbiota is a complex microbial ecosystem, the homeostasis of which is essential for host health. The gut microbiota metabolizes tryptophan to produce indole and indole derivatives, which improve alcoholic liver disease and enhance host intestinal immunity [2,3]. Polysaccharides, such as fucoidan, pass through the upper gastrointestinal system intact and are fermented by gut microorganisms in the lower gastrointestinal system, the metabolites of which further influence immunity [4] and obesity risk [5]. A number of studies revealed the beneficial effects of several polysaccharides, but little information was known about the effects of fucoidan on healthy hosts, especially its influence on biochemical indexes, intestinal microbiome, and metabolic function, as well as the relationship among them. Microbiome-metabolomics was used to reveal the health effects of fucoidan on mice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
