Polysaccharides are present in a wide range of plants, with abundant bioactivities, including immune-enhancement activity and colon health benefit effects. The intestinal microbiota is essential in the bioactivities of polysaccharides, with restored microbiota composition and the fermented product from these non-digestible polysaccharides after oral administration [1].
The polysaccharides from Codonopsis pilosula Nannf. var. modesta L. T. Shen (WCP) could restore the broken humoral immune on immunosuppression mice treated by cyclophosphamide (CP), for instance, the levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-10, interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) in serum (Fig.1). In addition, the WCP elevated the ileum secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in a dose-dependent manner, showing a potential mucosal immunological protective effect. At the same time, the amount of lactobacilli was increased in cecum (not shown), as well as the acetic acid content in a dose-dependent manner (Fig.1). It is probable that the WCP were fermented to short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) by beneficial bacteria, like Lactobacillus, thus stimulating the mucosal epithelium or receptors, promoting the secretion of sIgA [1-2]. Consequently, it could be used as a potential therapeutic natural product for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by adjusting the imbalanced homeostasis of gut microbiota and the damaged intestine mucosa [3].
Figure 1. Effects of WCP on CP-treated mice. Model, model control; Con, normal control; WCP-L, 50 mg/kg bodyweight WCP treated group; WCP-M, 100 mg/kg bodyweight WCP treated group; WCP-H, 200 mg/kg bodyweight WCP treated group. The values were presented as mean ± SD by Duncan’s test in one-way ANOVA of SPSS. 20.0. * p<0.05, compared with model group; ** p<0.01, compared with model group; #, p<0.05, compared with normal group.
References
[1] Huang X, Nie S, Xie M. Crit Rev Food Sci 2017; 57(14): 2943-2955.
[2] Chen XJ. Doctoral dissertation, Lanzhou University, 2016, in Chinese.
[3] Kamada N, Seo SU, Chen GY, Nunez G. Nat Rev Immunol 2013;13(5): 321-335.