Research Of Fu-rong Plum On Antioxidation And Gastrointestinal Function Improvement

Prunes sallcina Lindl,cv.Fu-rong,as a member of Prunus of Rosaceae,is widely grown in southern China.The most famous one is Yongtai,Fujian province,which is known as"Town of Fu-rong plum".Fu-rong plum is believed to have the benefits of help promoting digestion and preventing from constipation.However,few studies pay attention to this aspect.The objective of this study was to measure the diversification of nutrients and antioxidative activity during plum maturation.With the SPF SD rats as subjects,the function of Fu-rong plum in vivo to improve the body antioxidant capacity were analyzed.The main results of this study are as follows:Contents of sugars and pectin in Fu-rong plum changed significantly in ripening process.Sugar increased slowly at the early maturing period,but accumulated up to 10 g/100g quickly at the later stage.Meanwhile,pectin transferred into water-soluble pectin.The content of polyphenols in pulp gradually increased from 0.14%to 0.24%in the ripening process.The content of polyphenol compounds in skin decreased firstly and then increased,which was 3 times more than that in pulp.Then the antioxidant activities were evaluated and the results showed that the ABTS radical scavenging and reducing power of Fu-rong plum extraction were higher than vitamin C.The skin showed a higher antioxidative activity than pulp.The results revealed that the antioxidant activities associated with the concentration of polyphenols positively.With the SPF SD rats as subjects,the function of Fu-rong plum in vivo to improve the body antioxidant capacity were analyzed.Intragastric ice water was used to make the rat model of constipation and then the rats were fed a diet with 3%powder of dried or freeze-dried Fu-rong plum.The faeces,gastrointestinal hormones and diastase activity were evaluated,the results showed that the weight,water content,excitatory gut hormone and pepsin in the serum of the dried plum group and the freeze-dried plum group were both higher than that of the model group.While the content of inhibitory gut hormone was lower than that of the model group.In summary,Fu-rong plum showed great effect on promoting digestion and preventing from constipation.The results on gut microbiota analysis indicated that Fu-rong plum helped in gut microflora recovering.It inhibited the growth of Oscillospira,Coprococcus which induce gastric mucosa injury and inflammation,while Ruminococcus,Coprococcus were restored which produce the beneficial short-chain fatty acids(SCFAs).The serum antioxidant index and antioxidant activity in vivo were measured,results showed that the SOD activity in the serum of the dried plum group and the freeze-dried plum group were both higher than that of the model group,with a lower MDA value.It indicated that eating Fu-rong plum may help improve the ability of antioxidation.In conclusion,our results demonstrated a great effect on in vivo antioxidation,digestion ability improvement and constipation prevention.Thus the Fu-rong plum also modulated the intestinal microflora structure.