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Pneumonia remains a prevalent infection primary ailment characterized by severe lung inflammation, leading to respiratory distress and significant mortality rates, particularly affecting young children in less developed regions. This study explores the therapeutic potential of low and high-molecular weight polysaccharides derived from Anemarrhena asphodeloides in a murine model of lipoteichoic acid (LTA)-induced pneumonia, which represents bacterial-induced lung inflammation. Administration of Anemarrhena asphodeloides polysaccharides effectively alleviated LTA-induced symptoms, including decreased lung and colon inflammation, and restored dysbiosis of gut microbiota. Polysaccharide treatment notably increased mucin-2 expression, reduced serum cytokine levels (IL-10, TNF-α), and increased tight junction protein production (ZO-1, Occludin, Claudin). Additionally, polysaccharides promoted a significant recovery in gut microbiota composition, indicating potential prebiotic effects. These findings highlight the therapeutic capability of Anemarrhena asphodeloides polysaccharides against LTA-induced pneumonia through gut microbiota modulation and restored intestinal homeostasis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Cyclophosphamide (CTX) is an anticancer medication that suppresses host immunity as well as adversely affects mucosal inflammation and gut microflora dysbiosis. The gut microflora is recognized as a substantial factor in host metabolism and immunological homeostasis. To improve immunity and inhibit cytotoxic and homeostatic imbalances triggered by CTX, it is essential to monitor immunoregulators. In this research, we assessed the impact of Octopus peptide hydrolysate (OPH) on immune modulation, intestinal integrity, and gut microbial composition in CTX-induced immune-deficient mice. The results revealed that OPH increased body weight, and immunological organ indices, and improved the histological changes in the colon, thymus, and spleen. The OPH stimulated the secretion of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) and antibodies (IgM and IgA) while reducing the ratio of lipopolysaccharide ( LPS) and diamine oxidase (DAO) in the serum. OPH further enhanced goblet cell and mucus production, upregulated the expression of gut tight-junction proteins (Occludin, Zonula Occludin-1, Mucin-2, and Claudin-1), and activated the TLR4/NF-κB cascade (p-IκBα, P65/p-p65). In addition, OPH treatment declined the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio, enhanced the relative ratio of Alistipes / Lachnospiraceae , and reversed the ecological equilibrium of the gut microflora. The findings revealed that OPH serves as a prebiotic to prevent CTX-mediated disruption in the intestinal barrier and boosts gut mucosal immunity by attenuating gut microflora imbalance, implying that OPH could be used as an immunological ingredient in nutritious foods to regulate the immune system and protect the gut from inflammatory diseases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LBS) is a well-documented probiotic strain in oncology and has a pivotal role in clinical applications. Here, we have investigated the protective effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus on intestinal mucositis induced by cisplatin (CP) and explored the underlying mechanisms targeting inflammatory proteins, as well as the histological changes in the intestinal tissue of mice, in addition, the bacterial strains that may be related to the health-enhancing properties. BALB/c mice were pre-treated with or without LBS via oral gavage, followed by mucositis induction with cisplatin. Our results revealed that the LBS-treated groups significantly attenuated proinflammatory cytokine levels (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) compared to the CP group. Furthermore, LBS mitigated the damaged tight junction integrity caused by CP via up-regulating the levels of claudin, occludin, ZO-1, and mucin-2 protein (MUC-2). Finally, the 16S rRNA fecal microbiome genomic analysis showed that LBS administration enhanced the growth of beneficial bacteria, i.e., Firmicutes and Lachnospiraceae, while the relative abundance of the opportunistic bacteria Bacteroides and Proteobacteria decreased. Collectively, LBS was found to beneficially modulate microbial composition structure and functions and enrich the ecological diversity in the gut.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a persistent, lifelong inflammation of the digestive system. Dextran sulfate sodium is commonly used to induce colitis in experimental animal models, which causes epithelial damage, intestinal inflammation, mucin depletion, and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Various prebiotics, polysaccharides, and polypeptides are used for IBD treatment. In this study, we used a murine model utilizing BALB/c mice, with 10 mice per group, to investigate the treatment effect of sea conch peptide hydrolysate (CPH) on DSS-induced colitis mice. Colitis was induced through the administration of 2.5% DSS in drinking water over a seven-days period. Furthermore, on the eighth day of the experiment, sea conch peptide hydrolysate (CPH) at low (100 mg/kg), medium (200 mg/kg), and high (400 mg/kg) doses, which were continued for 14 days, were assessed for medicinal purposes in DSS-induced colitis mice. Our results showed that CPH treatment significantly alleviated the severity and symptoms of colitis. The epithelial integrity and histological damage were improved. Intestinal inflammation and inflammatory cell infiltration were improved. Furthermore, the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines was reduced, and intestinal barrier integrity was restored by elevating the tight junction proteins. Moreover, 16s RNA sequencing revealed dysbiosis of the gut microbiota was observed upon DSS treatment, which was reinstated after CPH treatment. An increased level of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus was observed in the treatment groups. Finally, our results suggest that CPH would be recommended as a functional food source and also have the potential to be used as a medicinal product for different gastrointestinal disorders.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a health issue that causes serious worldwide economic problems. It has previously been reported that natural polysaccharides have been studied with regard to regulating the gut microbiota, which plays an important role in T2DM. Here, we investigate the effects of Morchella esculenta polysaccharide (MEP) on a high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced T2DM in BALB/c mice. The administration of MEP effectively regulated hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia and improved insulin sensitivity. We also determined an improvement in gut microbiota composition by 16sRNA pyrosequencing. Treatment with MEP showed an increase in beneficial bacteria, i.e., Lactobacillus and Firmicutes , while the proportion of the opportunistic bacteria Actinobacteria, Corynebacterium , and Facklamia decreased. Furthermore, the treatment of T2DM mice with MEP resulted in reduced endotoxemia and insulin resistance-related pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin 1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Moreover, MEP treatment improved intestinal permeability by modulating the expression of the colon tight-junction proteins zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), occludin, claudin-1, and mucin-2 protein (MUC2). Additionally, MEP administration affects the metagenome of microbial communities in T2DM mice by altering the functional metabolic pathways. All these findings suggested that MEP is a beneficial prebiotic associated with ameliorating the gut microbiota and its metabolites in T2DM., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Rehman, Siddiqui, Farooqui, Alam, Gul, Ahmad, Asim, Khan, Xin, Zexu, Song Ju, Xin, Lei and Wang.)

Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is regarded as a multifunctional, immune-related disease which causes massive destruction of islet β-cells in pancreas resulting in hyperglycemic, hypoinsulinemia and hyperlipidimic conditions. The aim of the present study, was to investigate the hypothesis that streptozotocin (STZ)-induced T1DM in Balb/c mice when treated with crude polysaccharide from seaweed, Dictyopteris divaricata (CDDP) depicts improvement in diabetes-related symptoms. Treatment with CDDP resulted in decreased body weight loss, improved food consumption and water intake disbalances. The CDDP effectively improved fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance (OGTT), serum insulin, insulin secretion, rejuvenation of β-cells mass, serum lipid profile and pro-inflammatory cytokines levels. Additionally, treatment with CDDP increased the population of beneficial bacteria such as Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Lactobacillus at phylum, family and genus levels by 16S rRNA sequencing. Furthermore, immunohistological examination confirmed that CDDP reduces the inflammation and restored the structural morphology of colon and upraised the levels of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), Mucin-2 (MUC-2) and tight-junction proteins (TJs) whereby maintaining the gut structures and barrier permeability. Thus, the above presented data, highlights the safe and therapeutic effects of crude polysaccharide (CDDP) from D. divaricata in the treatment and restoration of T1DM disorders and can be used as a food supplement alternative to diabetes medicine., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Bioactive peptides are naturally found in various foods and were shown to have various distinct physiological as well as medicinal benefits. In this study shrimp peptide hydrolysate (SPH) was prepared to investigate its immunomodulatory effect against cyclophosphamide (CTX) induced immunosuppressed mice. The SPH effect was also analyzed on murine macrophage (RAW264.7 cells). The findings show that SPH stimulates macrophages to form multiple pseudopodia, has no cytotoxic effect, and increases phagocytic activity in RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, the immunosuppressed in-vivo model illustrates the improvement in various aspects, that is body weight, escalation in immune organ index, and ameliorates histopathological transformation of thymus along with the spleen. SPH enhances cell-mediated immunity by facilitating splenocyte proliferation and inhibit excessive apoptosis. Moreover, the significant outcome had been observed with the upregulation of cytokines interferon-gamma (IFN-ϒ), interleukin-2 (IL-2) level and simultaneously downregulate certain genes include interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Additionally, SPH expedites cellular immunity by enhancing the regulation of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin M (IgM). However, these findings support the hypothesis that SPH is an effective immunomodulatory agent capable of preventing immune system hypofunction. It is necessary to investigate the detailed mechanism to rule out any unforeseen effects of SPH in future research. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Chemotherapy medications, despite their dominating detrimental effects of damaging immunological organs such as the spleen and thymus, extend the treatment process as well as the destruction of the self-immune system. This study found that SPH is an effective immunomodulatory agent capable of avoiding immune organ hypofunction and improving cell mediate immunity by enhancing macrophage activation, phagocytosis, spleenocyte proliferation, suppressing apoptosis, and elevating cytokines and antibodies. As a result, SPH can be utilized as a nutritional and functional dietary supplement to boost immunological modulation in combination with chemotherapy medications in order to lessen their adverse effects., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The gut microbiota is important in regulating host metabolism, maintaining physiology, and protecting immune homeostasis. Gut microbiota dysbiosis affects the development of the gut microenvironment, as well as the onset of various external systemic diseases and metabolic syndromes. Cyclophosphamide (CTX) is a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug that suppresses the host immune system, intestinal mucosa inflammation, and dysbiosis of the intestinal flora. Immunomodulators are necessary to enhance the immune system and prevent homeostasis disbalance and cytotoxicity caused by CTX. In this study, shrimp peptide hydrolysate (SPH) was evaluated for immunomodulation, intestinal integration, and microbiota in CTX-induced immunosuppressed mice. It was observed that SPH would significantly restore goblet cells and intestinal mucosa integrity, modulate the immune system, and increase relative expression of mRNA and tight-junction associated proteins (Occludin, Zo-1, Claudin-1, and Mucin-2). It also improved gut flora and restored the intestinal microbiota ecological balance by removing harmful microbes of various taxonomic groups. This would also increase the immune organs index, serum levels of cytokines (IFN-ϒ, IL1β, TNF-α, IL-6), and immunoglobin levels (IgA, IgM). The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes proportion was decreased in CTX-induced mice. Finally, SPH would be recommended as a functional food source with a modulatory effect not only on intestinal microbiota, but also as a potential health-promoting immune function regulator.