Herbal medicine has been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments, and recent research has shown that it can have a significant impact on intestinal flora. Studies have shown that after oral administration of herbal medicine, the structure and metabolism of intestinal flora can be regulated.In this Research Topic, the effect of herbal medicine on intestinal flora and the potential molecular mechanisms, as well as the potential therapeutic benefits of herbal medicine on various diseases, was explored. The understanding of the potential function of plants is developing rapidly, also at the interface of food and medicine (Akkol et al., 2020;Durazzo et al., 2022). These functional herbal medicines have demonstrated anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and/or antiaging actions related to their bioactive components (Ali et al., 2022;Kupeli Akkol et al., 2022;Yucel et al., 2022;Ye et al., 2023) . In this editorial, we will discuss the findings of 12 papers that have investigated the effect of herbal medicine on intestinal flora and the potential molecular mechanisms behind it.Nowadays, gut microbiota deviations are linked with many diseases and herbal medicine intervention is considered to be an effective and safe method for their treatment. The intestinal microbiota was reported to regulate the progress of sepsis and attenuate organ damage. Traditional Chinese medicine This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article
Editorial12 June 2023
Editorial: The Effect of Herbal Medicine on Intestinal Flora and the Potential Molecular Mechanism
Angong Niuhuang Pill (ANP) is a famous traditional Chinese patent medicine and is used for treating ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke for centuries. However, the mechanism of action of ANP in stroke treatment has rarely been reported. With increasing evidence for a mechanistic link between acute ischemic stroke and gut microbiota alterations, this study aimed to determine the mechanism of action of ANP in treating acute ischemic stroke from the perspective of the gut microbiota. A mouse model of acute ischemic stroke by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was established, and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing and metabolomic analysis were performed on the cecal content samples collected from the sham, model, and ANP-treated MCAO mice. The results showed that ANP significantly ameliorated cerebral infarct volume, improved neurological deficits, and reduced histopathological injuries in the ipsilateral ischemic cortex, hippocampus, and striatum. The latter effect included inhibition of neuronal death, increased Nissl bodies, and decreased cell apoptosis. Moreover, ANP reversed gut microbiota dysbiosis by modulating the abundance of bacteria whose effects may mitigate MCAO damage, such as the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, the families Lachnospiraceae and Prevotellaceae, and the genera Alloprevotella and Roseburia. Microbial metabolites related to inflammation and neuroprotection, such as prostaglandin I2 and uridine, were also regulated by ANP treatment. Uridine, guanosine, and inosine might be potential neuromodulators produced by the gut microbiota in the ANP-treated group. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that these metabolites were intimately related to certain genera, including Alloprevotella, Lachnoclostridium, Enterorhabdus, Roseburia, Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006, and Colidextribacter. Our results demonstrated that alleviating gut microbiota dysbiosis is one of the mechanisms by which ANP protects against ischemic stroke and suggest that targeting Alloprevotella, Lachnoclostridium, Enterorhabdus, Roseburia, Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006, and Colidextribacter might be a potential anti-stroke therapy.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
6 September 2022
Di Yao, 8 more and Changyuan Wang
10 Authors
- DY
Di Yao
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- QY
Qiaoru Yu
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- LX
Lei Xu
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- TS
Tingting Su
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- LM
Lixue Ma
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- XW
Xiaoyu Wang
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- MW
Mengna Wu
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- ZL
Zhijiang Li
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- DZ
Dongjie Zhang
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
- CW
Changyuan Wang
College of Food, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, China
Buckwheat has beneficial effects on human intestinal health, which is often compounded with wheat to make food. Therefore, the effect of cereals mixture via in vitro fermentation on gut microbes and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were investigated in this study. The mixture of wheat and tartary buckwheat (WT) produced more lactate and acetate, and the mixture of wheat and sweet buckwheat (WE) produced more propionate and butyrate. Compared with wheat (WA), the relative abundance of some beneficial bacteria significantly increased, such as Sutterella in WT and Faecalibacterium in WE. Cereals mixture also affected the expression of functional genes, involved in metabolic pathways and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) that modulated SCFAs generation. This study provides new insights into the effects of sweet and tartary buckwheat on intestinal function, which is beneficial to applying both types of buckwheat in practical.
In the clinical, traditional Chinese formulation Xuebijing has been frequently used for treating sepsis. Nevertheless, the underlying pharmacological mechanisms of Xuebijing remain largely unclear. Caenorhabditis elegans is an important experimental host for bacterial infection. Using C. elegans as an animal model, we here examined the potential of Xuebijing treatment against bacterial infection and the underling mechanisms. Xuebijing treatment could inhibit the reduction tendency of lifespan caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. For the cellular mechanisms of this anti-bacterial infection property, we found that Xuebijing treatment inhibited Pseudomonas colony formation in intestinal lumen of nematodes. Meanwhile, the increase in expression of antimicrobial genes induced by Pseudomonas infection was also suppressed by Xuebijing treatment. Moreover, the beneficial effect of Xuebijing against Pseudomonas infection depended on insulin, p38 MAPK, Wnt, DBL-1/TGF-β, ELT-2, and programmed cell death (PCD) related signals. Although Xuebijing did not show obvious anti-bacterial activity, Xuebijing (100%) treatment could inhibit the Pseudomonas biofilm formation and decrease the expression of virulence genes (lasA, lasB, rhlA, rhlC, phzA, phzM, phzH, and phzS) and quorum-sensing (QS) related genes (lasI, lasR, rhlI, rhlR, pqsA, and pqsR). Our results support the potential role of Xuebijing treatment against bacterial infection in hosts.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
8 July 2022
Cuiru Li, 3 more and Zhoujin Tan
5 Authors
- CL
Cuiru Li
College of Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, China
- KZ
Kang Zhou
College of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, China
- NX
Nenqun Xiao
College of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, China
- MP
Maijiao Peng
College of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, China
- ZT
Zhoujin Tan
College of Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, China
Background: Qiweibaizhu powder (QWBZP) has been shown to be effective in treating antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). Previous research has reported that plant polysaccharides can promote the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria and inhibit the multiplication of pathogenic bacteria, thus effectively treating diarrhea. Here, we investigated the effect of QWBZP crude polysaccharide on the diversity of intestinal mucosal bacteria and its community structure composition in mice with AAD and to provide the scientific basis for the efficacy of QWBZP crude polysaccharide on diarrhea.
Material and Methods: Eighteen KM mice were randomly divided into the normal group (mn), model group (mm), and QWBZP crude polysaccharide treatment group (ma), with six mice in each group. An AAD model was constructed using a mixed antibiotic solution and treated with gavage crude polysaccharide solution of QWBZP. The intestinal mucosa was extracted from the jejunum to the ileum of mice, and the metagenome was extracted, then analyzed by Miseq sequencing to characterize the intestinal mucosal bacteria of mice.
Results: The spleen and thymus indices in each group of mice were no significant differences. The Chao1 and ACE indices of the mn and mm groups were similar, the Simpson index was the largest and the Shannon index was the smallest in the mm group, and there was no significant difference in the diversity indices of all three groups. In the PCA and Pcoa, the mn and ma group samples were both relatively concentrated with high similarity of community structure. In contrast, the samples of the mm group were more scattered and farther away from the samples of the mn and ma group, i.e., the community structure similarity within and between the groups was low. Compared with the mm group, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Lactobacillus, and the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio in the ma group were decreased, while the Enterococcus continued to increase. In the LEfSe analysis, there were significant differences in the characteristic bacteria of the mn, mm, and ma groups.
Conclusion: The single crude polysaccharide component is not very effective in treating AAD, so the clinical efficacy of the QWBZP crude polysaccharide is subject to further investigation.