Pilose antler polypeptides ameliorate inflammation and oxidative stress and improves gut microbiota in updates hypoxic-ischemic injured rats

Pilose antler polypeptides (PAP) have recently been found to be effective in the treatment of brain damage in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). However, the impacts of hypoxic-ischemic (HI)-induced injury on oxidative stress and inflammation in peripheral tissues remain unclear. In the present study, we hypothesized that the administration of PAP might exert a protective effect on HI-induced peripheral tissue dysfunction. To that end, HI-injured rats were administered PAP for 3 weeks, and then the metabolic phenotypes and gut microbiota were evaluated by qPCR and 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. Hepatic lipid accumulation, systemic oxidative stress and inflammation, as well as impaired gut barrier function and altered gut microbiota were found in HI-injured rats, which were reversed by the treatment of PAP. PAP treatment modulated the abundance and composition of gut microbiota, and PICRUSt analyses revealed that PAP treatment also led to a functional change in the microbial communities. These protective effects of PAP were associated with attenuated susceptibility to bacterial infections, decreased antibiotic synthesis and changed cellular processes and signaling, which may cause inflammation, barrier dysfunction, oxidative stress and mitochondria dysfunction in HI rats. In conclusion, these results suggested that PAP protected against HI-induced peripheral tissue damage in rats and therefore might be a potential candidate for the treatment of HIE and its complications. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.