Anti-obesity effects exerted by Dioscorea opposita Thunb. polysaccharides in diet-induced obese mice.
Sheng-Nan LiDian-Long ZhangZhen-Hui WangWen-Ting SongWen-Bo ChenGe-Li HuLu-Ying HanJing-Chun ZhouPublished in: Food science & nutrition (2023)
Obesity is characterized by chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and gut microbiota dysbiosis. Dioscorea opposita Thunb. is a traditional food and medicine homolog from China. In the present study, polysaccharides isolated from a water extract of Dioscorea opposita Thunb. (DOTPs) were prepared. We showed that DOTPs reduced body weight, accumulation of fat tissues, insulin resistance, and inflammation in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Further experiments showed that DOTPs could regulate the composition of the gut microbiota in HFD mice. DOTPs supplementation in HFD-fed mice resulted in the reduction of the Firmicutes -to- Bacteroidetes ratio. We further demonstrated that DOTPs supplementation enhanced bacterial levels of Akkermansia and reduced levels of Ruminiclostridium_9 . A significant reduction of glycolysis metabolism related to obesity and gut microbiota dysbiosis was also observed upon administration of DOTPs. Our results suggest that DOTPs can produce significant anti-obesity effects, by inhibiting systematic inflammation and ameliorating gut microbiota dysbiosis in diet-induced obese mice.