Pulsatillae radix extract alleviates DSS-induced colitis via modulating gut microbiota and inflammatory signaling pathway in mice

Xianping Li; Zhihuan Wang; Hongyuan Gao; Yuchun Xiao; Mengde Li; Yuanming Huang; Guoxing Liu; Yanan Guo; Liqiong Song; Zhihong Ren

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21869

Pulsatillae radix extract alleviates DSS-induced colitis via modulating gut microbiota and inflammatory signaling pathway in mice

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 2;9(11):e21869. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21869. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Xianping Li^{1

2}, Zhihuan Wang¹, Hongyuan Gao³, Yuchun Xiao¹, Mengde Li⁴, Yuanming Huang¹, Guoxing Liu^{5

6}, Yanan Guo^{1

7}, Liqiong Song¹, Zhihong Ren¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Research Units of Discovery of Unknown Bacteria and Function (2018RU010), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 102206, China.
² National Engineering Center of Dairy for Maternal and Child Health, Beijing Sanyuan Foods Co. Ltd., No.8, Yingchang Street, Yinghai Town, Daxing District, Beijing, 100163, China.
³ Taian TSCM Hospital, Taian, Shandong, 271000, China.
⁴ School of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei Anhui, 230601, China.
⁵ Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Third Affiliated Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China.
⁶ Linwei Liu Zunji Clinic of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Weinan, Shaanxi, 714000, China.
⁷ School of Life Science, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266237, China.

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic relapsing intestinal disease with complex pathogenesis. The increasing morbidity and mortality of UC become a global public health threat. Baitouweng decoction (BD), a formulated prescription of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has been applied to cure UC for many centuries. However, the therapeutic efficacy and working mechanisms of this medicine are not well studied.

Aim of study: In this study we determined whether Pulsatillae radix, one of four ingredients in BD, had a therapeutic effect on colitis. And explore the underlying mechanism of Pulsatilla chinensis (Bunge) Regel radix in the improvement of DSS-induced colitis in mice model.

Methods: The active compounds of Pulsatilla chinensis was identified by UPLC. The composition of the mice's cecum microbiota was determined by 16S rRNA sequencing. And gene expression profile of colon was detected by transcriptome.

Results: The results showed that Pulsatillae radix significantly improved the clinical symptom, prevented the shorten of colon length, and decreased the diseased activity index (DAI) in an 3 % DSS-induced ulcerative colitis mouse model. We found that Pulsatillae radix reversed the dysbiosis of gut microbiota as evidenced by increase in the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Deferribacteres, and Proteobacteria phyla and decrease in Firmicutes, as well as by decrease in the genera levels of Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Prevotella, Mucispirillum, Coprococcus, Oscillospira, and Escherichia. The results of transcriptome showed Pulsatillae radix administration led to 128 genes up-regulation, and 122 genes down-regulation, up-regulate NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, down-regulate Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and TNF and IL-17 signaling pathways.

Conclusion: in this study, we demonstrate Pulsatillae radix alleviates DSS-induced colitis probably via modulating gut microbiota and inflammatory signaling pathway in DSS-induced colitis mouse model.

Keywords: DSS; Gut microbiota; NOD-Like receptor signaling pathway; Pulsatillae radix; RNA sequencing.