Stachyose modulates gut microbiota and alleviates DSS-induced ulcerative colitis in mice

Stachyose is a prebiotic that traditionally extracted from plants, such as vegetable. It has been demonstrated to alleviate intestinal inflammation by regulating gut microbiota, but the mechanism has been unclear. This research aims to detect the potential mechanism of stachyose in alleviating the severity of ulcerative colitis (UC). The results indicated that the administration of stachyose could recover the body weight, protect against the colonic tissue damage, reduce the pro-inflammatory cytokines levels, and reverse the histological abnormalities in UC mice. Oral stachyose could restore dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced disturbance in intestinal bacteria. Besides, the metabolome result of serum samples showed that stachyose treatment significantly altered serum metabolites against inflammatory responses in colitis mice. Also, a significant correlation can be found between 23 metabolite biomarkers and 18 differential genera. Our results provided a strong foundation for the future study of the protective role of stachyose in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. (c) 2023 Beijing Academy of Food Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The prebiotic stachyose, extracted from plants, has been found to alleviate intestinal inflammation by regulating gut microbiota. Its administration can restore body weight, protect against colonic tissue damage, reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines levels, and reverse histological abnormalities in ulcerative colitis mice. Furthermore, stachyose can restore disturbed intestinal bacteria and alter serum metabolites against inflammatory responses in colitis mice. These findings provide a strong foundation for future studies on the protective role of stachyose in maintaining intestinal homeostasis.