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Protective effect of baicalin on the regulation of Treg/Th17 balance, gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in rats with ulcerative colitis

  • Applied microbial and cell physiology
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Abstract

Baicalin is reported as an effective drug for ulcerative colitis (UC). However, its effect on gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the role of baicalin on Th17/Treg balance, gut microbiota community, and SCFAs levels in trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS)-induced UC rat model. We found the DAI scores were significantly increased in the TNBS-treated rats, while reduced in the baicalin-treated group in a dose-dependent manner, accompanied with the alleviation of mucosal injury, the reduction of ZO-1, Occludin, and MUC2 expression. At the meanwhile, baicalin repressed the increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and MDA, while deceased the GSH and SOD levels in colon tissue of rats treated with TNBS. On the other hand, administration of baicalin attenuated the TNBS-induced upregulations of Th17/Treg ratio, indicating a strong amelioration in the colorectal inflammation. More importantly, pyrosequencing of the V4 regions of 16S rRNA genes in rat feces revealed a deviation of the gut microbiota in response to baicalin treatment. In particular, the decreased Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratios and endotoxin-bearing Proteobacteria levels indicated that baicalin reversed TNBS-induced gut dysbiosis OTUs. In addition, we further investigated the fecal levels of major SCFAs in rats and found that baicalin significantly resorted the fecal butyrate levels in rats treated with TNBS. The increased butyrate levels were in consistent with the higher abundance of butyrate-producing species such as Butyricimonas spp., Roseburia spp., Subdoligranulum spp., and Eubacteriu spp. in baicalin-treated group. In conclusion, our findings suggest that baicalin possibly protected rats against ulcerative colitis by regulation of Th17/Treg balance, and modulation of both gut microbiota and SCFAs. Baicalin may be used as a prebiotic agent to treat ulcerative colitis-associated inflammation and gut dysbiosis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81873260 and No. 81873260), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2018M640511), and the Special Scientific Research for Traditional Chinese Medicine of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China (No. 201407001).

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The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No.138, Xianlin Road, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu, China

    Lei Zhu & Li-Bin Zhan

  2. Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No.155, Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu, China

    Lei Zhu, Lu-Zhou Xu, Song Zhao, Zhao-Feng Shen & Hong Shen

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  1. Lei Zhu
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  2. Lu-Zhou Xu
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  3. Song Zhao
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  4. Zhao-Feng Shen
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  5. Hong Shen
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Contributions

Lei Zhu and Hong Shen are major contributors in funding acquisition. Lei Zhu performed most of the experiments and date interpreting. Lu-Zhou Xu, Song Zhao, and Zhao-Feng Shen contributed in doing the experiments and date analysis. Hong Shen and Li-Bin Zhan were major contributors in project administration and manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hong Shen or Li-Bin Zhan.

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This study was approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zhu, L., Xu, LZ., Zhao, S. et al. Protective effect of baicalin on the regulation of Treg/Th17 balance, gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in rats with ulcerative colitis. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 5449–5460 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10527-w

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