AUTHOR=Meng Xia , Wu Hongchen , Xiong Jiayi , Li Yongquan , Chen Lin , Gu Qing , Li Ping TITLE=Metabolism of eriocitrin in the gut and its regulation on gut microbiota in mice JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1111200 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1111200 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=Introduction

Eriocitrin, found in lemon fruit, has shown a wide range of biological properties. Herein, we investigated the intestinal metabolic profile of eriocitrin in colon, and the regulation of dietary intervention of eriocitrin on gut microbiota.

Methods

We performed ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS), 16S rDNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography-mass (GC-MS) on colon contents from the eriocitrin group (n=6), and compared them with control participants (n=6).

Results

A total of 136 flavonoids were found in colon contents, including eriocitrin and its six metabolites (eriodictyol, homoeriodictyol, hesperetin, eriodictyol-3′-O-glucoside, hesperetin-7-O-glucoside and eriodictyol-7-O-(6″-O-galloyl) glucoside). Moreover, dietary intervention of eriocitrin significantly alters the beta diversity of the gut microbiota, the probiotics such as Lachnospiraceae_UCG_006 were significantly enriched, and the production of butyrate, valerate and hexanoate in the colon pool of short-chain fatty acids were significant increased. The spearman’s association analysis performed some intestinal bacteria may be involved in the metabolism of eriocitrin.

Discussion

Collectively, our results preliminarily suggest the metabolism of eriocitrin in the gut, demonstrating alterations of eriocitrin in gut microbiota, which warrants further investigation to determine its potential use in food and biomedical applications.