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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #387928
Research Project: Molecular Approaches to Control Intestinal Parasites that Affect the Microbiome in Swine and Small Ruminants

Location: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory

Title: Microbial composition and co-occurrence patterns in the gut microbial community of healthy and obese mice in response to astaxanthin in its native and lipid emulsion forms

Author
item GAO, YUAN - Ocean University Of China
item LIU, FANT - Ocean University Of China
item Li, Robert
item XUE, CHANGHU - Ocean University Of China
item TANG, QINGJUAN - Ocean University Of China

Submitted to: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/10/2022
Publication Date: 5/6/2022
Citation: Gao, Y., Liu, F., Li, R.W., Xue, C., Tang, Q. 2022. Microbial composition and co-occurrence patterns in the gut microbial community of healthy and obese mice in response to astaxanthin in its native and lipid emulsion forms. Frontiers in Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.671271.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.671271

Interpretive Summary: As a potent antioxidant, astaxanthin has been shown to protect cells from oxidative stress and. Improve the function of the immune system. This dietary supplement has been widely used to treat Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, high cholesterol, liver diseases, age-related macular degeneration and prevent cancer. However, its bioaccessibility is low (< 50%) in healthy individuals and significantly reduced in obese people (< 10%). In this study, then modulating effect of astaxanthin on the gut microbiome, particularly, gut microbial interactions, was investigated using a mouse model. Our results show that the lipid emulsion-based delivery system significantly improved bioaccessibility and bioavailability of astaxanthin in obese mice and resulted in a favorable microbial interaction pattern. Our findings will have a positive impact on the development of astaxanthin as an important functional food component.

Technical Abstract: Natural products as dietary supplements play important roles in improving gut health. The modulating effect of the carotenoid astaxanthin on gut microbiota is well documented. However, little is known about the microbial co-occurrence patterns and keystone species in gut microbiota of animals fed with astaxanthin in its native and lipid emulsion forms. In this study, microbial interactions induced by astaxanthin were investigated using a hat-fat diet induced mouse model. Our findings show the effect of astaxanthin was more profound in the obese than normal healthy mice. While astaxanthin both in native and lipid emulsion ameliorated obesity induced by high-fat diets, its lipid emulsion showed a better activity in mitigating obesity and resulting in a higher serum level. Astaxanthin altered microbial composition and co-occurrence patterns in both normal and obese mice. However, the altered abundance of Acinetobacter and Alistipes was observed only in obese mice. An Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) assigned to the genus Bacteroides acted as a connector in the global networks and likely played a role as keystone species in the gut microbial community. Several network modules correlated with physiological parameters were detected. For example, Modules A12 and MA10 were significantly and yet negatively correlated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, respectively. A positive correlation was found between node connectivity of the OTUs belonging to Clostridiaceae with LPS in obese mice, suggesting that this bacterial family can be developed as a potential pathological marker. Our results should facilitate the development of a more efficient delivery system and improve the potential of astaxanthin as an important functional food component.