A study on the treatment effects of Crataegus pinnatifida polysaccharide on non-alcoholic fatty liver in mice by modulating gut microbiota

Ping Hao; Xiaonan Yang; Wen Yin; Xinyi Wang; Yun Ling; Mengyao Zhu; Yue Yu; Shouhai Chen; Yuan Yuan; Xiaoyu Quan; Zhiheng Xu; Jiahui Zhang; Wenjia Zhao; Ying Zhang; Chunlian Song; Qing Xu; Shuangshuang Qin; Yi Wu; Xianghua Shu; Kunhua Wei

doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1383801

A study on the treatment effects of Crataegus pinnatifida polysaccharide on non-alcoholic fatty liver in mice by modulating gut microbiota

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Mar 27:11:1383801. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1383801. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Ping Hao^#¹, Xiaonan Yang^#², Wen Yin¹, Xinyi Wang¹, Yun Ling¹, Mengyao Zhu¹, Yue Yu¹, Shouhai Chen¹, Yuan Yuan¹, Xiaoyu Quan¹, Zhiheng Xu³, Jiahui Zhang¹, Wenjia Zhao⁴, Ying Zhang⁵, Chunlian Song⁵, Qing Xu⁶, Shuangshuang Qin², Yi Wu^{1

5}, Xianghua Shu⁵, Kunhua Wei^{7

2}

Affiliations

¹ Ministry of Education (MOE) Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
² National Engineering Research Center for Southwest Endangered Medicinal Resources Development, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Medicinal Resources Protection and Genetic Improvement, Guangxi Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants, Nanning, China.
³ College of Medicine (Institute of Translational Medicine), Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
⁵ College of Veterinary Medicine, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China.
⁶ Institute of Biology, Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Production and Development of Cantonese Medicinal Materials/Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Good Agricultural Practice and Comprehensive Development for Cantonese Medicinal Materials, School of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the protective effect of Crataegus pinnatifida polysaccharide (CPP) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) in mice. The findings demonstrated that CPP improved free fatty acid (FFA)-induced lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells and effectively reduced liver steatosis and epididymal fat weight in NAFLD mice, as well as decreased serum levels of TG, TC, AST, ALT, and LDL-C. Furthermore, CPP exhibited inhibitory effects on the expression of fatty acid synthesis genes FASN and ACC while activating the expression of fatty acid oxidation genes CPT1A and PPARα. Additionally, CPP reversed disturbances in intestinal microbiota composition caused by HFD consumption. CPP decreased the firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, increased Akkermansia abundance, and elevated levels of total short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) content specifically butyric acid and acetic acid. Our results concluded that CPP may intervene in the development of NAFLD by regulating of intes-tinal microbiota imbalance and SCFAs production. Our study highlights that CPP has a potential to modulate lipid-related pathways via alterations to gut microbiome composition thereby ex-erting inhibitory effects on obesity and NAFLD development.

Keywords: Crataegus pinnatifida; HepG2 cells; gut microbiota; non-alcoholic fatty liver; polysaccharide.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant Nos. 32172900 and 32360903), China Agriculture Research System (CARS-21), and Yunnan Provincial Agricultural Major Science and Technology Special Project “Construction and Application of Prevention and Control Technology System of Important Pig Diseases in Yunnan Province” (Grant No. 202102AE090007).