Alteration of intestinal microbiota in mice orally administered with salmon cartilage proteoglycan, a prophylactic agent

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 9;8(9):e75008. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075008. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Proteoglycan (PG) extracted from salmon nasal cartilage has potential to be a prophylactic agent. Daily oral administration of the PG attenuates systemic inflammatory response in the experimental mouse models. In this study, we applied the culture-independent approach to investigate an alteration of intestinal microbiota composition in PG-administered mice. The results indicated that the population level of bacilli increased in the small and large intestine upon PG administration. On the other hand, the population level of clostridia decreased in the large intestine. The proportion of bacteria that are able to ferment saccharides and produce short-chain fatty acids increased in the small intestine and decreased in the large intestine. Importantly, population level of probiotic lactobacilli and bacteria exhibiting the immunomodulatory effect increased in the PG-administered mice. In addition, several disease-associated bacteria decreased upon PG administration. These results provided an understanding of the specific role of PG involved in host immune modulation and supported our hypothesis that daily oral administration of PG improves the overall balance in composition of the intestinal microbial community.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Oral
  • Animals
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / chemistry
  • Bacillus / drug effects
  • Cartilage / chemistry*
  • Clostridium / drug effects
  • Fatty Acids, Volatile / chemistry
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Female
  • Immune System
  • Inflammation / drug therapy
  • Intestines / microbiology*
  • Lactobacillus / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Microbiota*
  • Polysaccharides / chemistry
  • Probiotics / chemistry
  • Proteoglycans / chemistry*
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Salmon
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents
  • Fatty Acids, Volatile
  • Polysaccharides
  • Proteoglycans
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the City Area Program for Promotion of Science and Technology in Regional Areas from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Grant number 2010110001). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.