Flavonoids from Mulberry Leaves Alleviate Lipid Dysmetabolism in High Fat Diet-Fed Mice: Involvement of Gut Microbiota

Yinzhao Zhong; Bo Song; Changbing Zheng; Shiyu Zhang; Zhaoming Yan; Zhiyi Tang; Xiangfeng Kong; Yehui Duan; Fengna Li

doi:10.3390/microorganisms8060860

Flavonoids from Mulberry Leaves Alleviate Lipid Dysmetabolism in High Fat Diet-Fed Mice: Involvement of Gut Microbiota

Microorganisms. 2020 Jun 7;8(6):860. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8060860.

Authors

Yinzhao Zhong¹, Bo Song¹, Changbing Zheng², Shiyu Zhang³, Zhaoming Yan³, Zhiyi Tang³, Xiangfeng Kong¹, Yehui Duan¹, Fengna Li^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process; CAS Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Hunan Provincial Engineeritng Research Center for Healthy Livestock and Poultry Production; Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Changsha 410125, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition Regulation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
³ College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China.
⁴ Hunan Collaborative Innovation Center for Utilization of Botanical Functional Ingredients; Hunan Co-Innovation Center of Animal Production Safety, CICAPS, Changsha 410125, China.

Abstract

Here, we investigated the roles and mechanisms of flavonoids from mulberry leaves (FML) on lipid metabolism in high fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. ICR mice were fed either a control diet (Con) or HFD with or without FML (240 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for six weeks. FML administration improved lipid accumulation, alleviated liver steatosis and the whitening of brown adipose tissue, and improved gut microbiota composition in HFD-fed mice. Microbiota transplantation from FML-treated mice alleviated HFD-induced lipid metabolic disorders. Moreover, FML administration restored the production of acetic acid in HFD-fed mice. Correlation analysis identified a significant correlation between the relative abundances of Bacteroidetes and the production of acetic acid, and between the production of acetic acid and the weight of selected adipose tissues. Overall, our results demonstrated that in HFD-fed mice, the lipid metabolism improvement induced by FML administration might be mediated by gut microbiota, especially Bacteroidetes-triggered acetic acid production.

Keywords: FML; acetic acid; gut microbiota; lipid metabolism; microbiota transplantation.

Abstract

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