Regulatory effect of lactulose on intestinal flora and serum metabolites in colitis mice: In vitro and in vivo evaluation

Junying Bai; Botao Wang; Xiang Tan; Linhua Huang; Shuangli Xiong

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100821

Regulatory effect of lactulose on intestinal flora and serum metabolites in colitis mice: In vitro and in vivo evaluation

Food Chem X. 2023 Aug 11:19:100821. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100821. eCollection 2023 Oct 30.

Authors

Junying Bai^{1

2}, Botao Wang³, Xiang Tan^{1

2}, Linhua Huang^{1

2}, Shuangli Xiong⁴

Affiliations

¹ Citrus Research Institute, Southwest University, Chongqing 400700, China.
² National Citrus Engineering Research Center, Chongqing 400700, China.
³ Bloomage Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Jinan 250000, China.
⁴ College of Food Science and Technology, Sichuan Tourism University, Chengdu 610100, China.

Abstract

Lactulose is a common component in foods. However, the effect of lactulose on intestinal flora and overall metabolic levels remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to explore the regulative role of lactulose on intestinal flora and serum metabolites via in vitro simulated colonic fermentation model and in vivo colitis mouse model. The results showed that lactulose significantly enriched beneficial bacteria including Dubosiella and Bifidobacterium, and reduced pathogenic bacteria such as Fusobacterium. Moreover, lactulose significantly inhibited dextran sodium sulfate-induced body weight loss, colon shortening, colonic inflammatory infiltration, and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, IL-17, and IL-1β. Lactulose significantly affected serum metabolome in colitis mice and total 24 metabolites representing a high inter-group difference were obtained. Correlation analysis revealed that the changes in serum metabolites were closely associated with the role of intestinal flora, and thus affected phenotypic indicators. Our study provides a reference for nutritional characteristics and application scenarios of dietary lactulose.

Keywords: Colitis; Gut microbiota; In vitro; In vivo; Lactulose; Metabolites.