The Studies On Effects Of Prodigiosin On Intestinal Health And Body Metabolism In Weaned Rats

Prodigiosin(PG)is a red pigment produced by microorganisms(such as Serratia marcescens),and it widely existed in nature.Accumulating evidences show that PG exhibits many biological effects,including antibacterial,antineoplastic,anticancer and immunosuppressive.However,previous studies on the bioactivity of PG mainly focused on in vitro experiments,those studies are rarely conducted in vivo.In particular,the impact on intestinal health of PG has not been reported,which affects the promotion and application of PG to some extent.In the present study,thirty male SD weaned rats were randomly divided into the control group,low dose group,and high dose group.Each group has the same number of rats.Rat intestinal injury induced by weaning stress is used as the experimental model.For the control group,low dose group and high dose group,oral administrations were sterile saline,100 ?g prodigiosin/kg body weight,and200 ?g prodigiosin/kg body weight,respectively.All the frequencies of feed were once daily.The feeding experiment was conducted for 14 days,then all the rats were sacrificed,and relative samples were dissected out.By means of the techniques of the metabonomics based on nuclear magnetic resonance,and coupled with multivariate data analysis,biochemical analysis,histomorphology and microorganisms,etc,the effects of prodigiosin on the intestinal health and systemic metabolism of weaned rats were investigated.The results showed that high dose PG administration significantly increased the body weight,daily feed intake,index of liver,spleen,and thymus,index of small intestine and colon(P < 0.05),increased the apparent digestibility of crude protein and fat,decreased the moisture percentage in faeces,increased the contents of short chain fatty acids in caecal contents(P < 0.05),decreased the pH and ammonia level of the caecal contents and faeces(P < 0.05),increased the amount of Lactobacillus and decreased the amount of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus in caecal contents and faeces(P < 0.05).In addition,the villus height of jejunum and ileum,ratio of villus height and crypt depth,and thickness of colon mucosa,were also increased(P < 0.05).Prodigiosin significantly increased total antioxidant capacity,glutathione-peroxidase activity and superoxide dismutase activity in ileum,and superoxide dismutase activity in colon,decreased the content of malondialdehyde in ileum and colon(P < 0.05).PG administration can alter common systemic metabolic processes,including improved gut microbiota metabolism,reduce the decomposition of amino acid in gut and promoted protein synthesis in body,increase the absorption of fat in gut and promoted fat synthesis in body,increase the absorption of glucose in gut and promote glycolytic pathway in body,enhance antioxidative capability and reduced inflammation in body(P < 0.05).PG administration can alleviate weaning stress induced unfavorable impacts on organism by improving gut microbiota metabolism,reducing the decomposition of amino acid in gut and promoting protein synthesis in body,increasing the absorption of fat in gut and promoting fat synthesis in body,increasing the absorption of glucose in gut and promoting glycolytic pathway in body,enhancing antioxidative capability and reducing inflammation in body.Above all,PG administration can significantly increase the body weight and average daily feed intake,the increasing rates were 17.16% and10.42%,respectively.Therefore,PG has obviously protective effects on intestinal health and systemic metabolism in weaned rats.The functional effects of PG in body may be potentially related to its structure composed of a methoxy-pyrrole skeleton,which has strong antioxidant activity.