Administration of Aspergillus oryzae suppresses DSS-induced colitis

Ryo Nomura; Sho Tsuzuki; Takaaki Kojima; Mao Nagasawa; Yusuke Sato; Masayoshi Uefune; Yasunori Baba; Toshiya Hayashi; Hideo Nakano; Masashi Kato; Motoyuki Shimizu

doi:10.1016/j.fochms.2021.100063

Administration of Aspergillus oryzae suppresses DSS-induced colitis

Food Chem (Oxf). 2021 Dec 10:4:100063. doi: 10.1016/j.fochms.2021.100063. eCollection 2022 Jul 30.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Agriculture, Meijo University, Nagoya, Aichi 468-8502, Japan.
² Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan.
³ Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, Tokai University, Kumamoto 862-8652, Japan.
⁴ Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology, Ishikawa Prefectural University, Suematsu, Nonoichi, Ishikawa 921-8836, Japan.

Abstract

Aspergillus oryzae, a filamentous fungus, has long been used for the production of traditional Japanese foods. Here, we analyzed how A. oryzae administration affects the intestinal environment in mice. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the gut microbiota indicated that after the administration of heat-killed A. oryzae spores, the relative abundance of an anti-inflammatory Bifidobacterium pseudolongum strain became 2.0-fold greater than that of the control. Next, we examined the effect of A. oryzae spore administration on the development of colitis induced by dextran sodium sulfate in mice; we found that colitis was alleviated by not only heat-killed A. oryzae spores, but also the cell wall extracted from the spores. Our findings suggest that A. oryzae holds considerable potential for commercial application in the production of both traditional Japanese fermented foods and new foods with prebiotic functions.

Keywords: Aspergillus oryzae; Bifidobacterium pseudolongum; DSS, dextran sodium sulfate; DSS-induced colitis; Gut microbiome; H&E, hematoxylin and eosin; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; Prebiotics; TLC, thin-layer chromatography.