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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Effects of Ligustrum robustum on gut microbes and obesity in rats
Zhi-Mei Xie, Tao Zhou, Hong-Yu Liao, Qian Ye, Shan Liu, Lu Qi, Jing Huang, Hao-Jiang Zuo, Xiao-Fang Pei
Zhi-Mei Xie, Tao Zhou, Hong-Yu Liao, Qian Ye, Shan Liu, Hao-Jiang Zuo, Xiao-Fang Pei, Department of Laboratory Science of Public Health, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Hong-Yu Liao, Sichuan Provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Shan Liu, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Lu Qi, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States
Lu Qi, Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
Lu Qi, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
Jing Huang, Department of Chemistry of Medicinal Natural Products, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Pei XF and Zuo HJ designed the research; Zuo HJ, Xie ZM, Zhou T, Liao HY, Ye Q, Huang J and Pei XF performed the research; Zuo HJ and Liao HY analyzed the data; Zuo HJ, Xie ZM and Pei XF wrote the paper; Qi L made critical revisions of this manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81273055; Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, No. 2014JY0001; and The Youth Foundation of Sichuan University, No. 2012SCU11099.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, China.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases (protocol number: SKLODLL2013A067).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hao-Jiang Zuo, PhD, Laboratory Science of Public Health, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, No. 3-13 Renminnanlu, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
zuohaojiang@scu.edu.cn
Received: March 17, 2015
Peer-review started: March 18, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: June 19, 2015
Accepted: September 28, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: December 14, 2015
Processing time: 266 Days and 18.7 Hours
AIM: To investigate the anti-obesity and antibacterial effects of Ligustrum robustum (L. robustum) in vivo and in vitro and its possible mechanisms.
METHODS: The effects of L. robustum aqueous extract (LR) on various gut bacteria in vitro were evaluated. The effects of LR on high-fat diet-fed (HFD) rats in vivo were also assessed. Culture methods, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism were used to analyze the effects of LR on gut bacteria. Biochemical tests were also performed to detect the changes in obesity-related indicators after LR treatment.
RESULTS: LR treatment lowered adipose weight and decreased Lee’s index, blood glucose, total cholesterol, and lipid in the tested groups relative to control (P < 0.05). To determine the reasons for these changes, we assessed the potential bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects of LR on specific bacterial species in vitro. LR affected the richness, diversity, and evenness of gut bacteria, increased fecal Lactobacillus, and decreased Enterococci in HFD rats (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: L. robustum may be a safe and effective food for weight loss and obesity control, and the effects of L. robustum might be mediated by the regulation of gut bacteria.
Core tip: Gut microbes play important roles in fat storage and metabolism. The control of gut microbes is considered promising in the prevention of obesity. In this study, the regulatory effect of Ligustrum robustum aqueous extract (LR) on gut bacteria in vivo and in vitro and body weight was determined. Certain doses of LR prevented obesity without sacrificing daily food or energy intake. LR may affect the richness, diversity, and evenness of gut bacteria by increasing Lactobacillus and decreasing Enterococci in the host gut.
