The aerial parts of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. strengthen intestinal barrier and modulate gut microbiota imbalance in streptozocin-induced diabetic mice

• Published in: Journal of functional foods 2017-09, Vol.36, p.362-374
• Main Authors: Gu, Jun-Fei, Su, Shu-Lan, Guo, Jian-Ming, Zhu, Yue, Zhao, Ming, Duan, Jin-Ao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerial parts of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge; Diabetes; Gut microbiota; Intestinal barrier
• ISSN: 1756-4646; 2214-9414
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jff.2017.06.010

•DJ showed an effect on strengthening the intestinal barrier in diabetic mice.•DJ could modulate the diversity and balance of gut microbiota in diabetic mice.•Our manuscript is the first attempt to investigate DJ as a novel food on DM mice.•Our manuscript might provide the basis for DJ on curing intestinal symptoms. Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge., a Traditional Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, has been used as a health-care food recently. The aerial parts of S. miltiorrhiza Bge. (DJ) are rich in phenolic acids similar to the rhizome. However, the functional and health-care effects of DJ are not clear. We aimed to investigate the impact of DJ on the intestinal barrier and gut microbiota dysfunction in diabetic mice. DJ could reverse the decreased VIP level and the increased AGEs level in diabetic mice. Importantly, DJ strengthened the intestinal barrier of diabetic mice by up-regulating the tight junction proteins expressions (ZO-1, Occludin and Claudin-5) in ileum and colon but not in duodenum. DJ could modulate the diabetes-induced gut microbiota imbalance. Additionally, DJ was proved to have no enterotoxicity on normal mice, which suggested that DJ might serve as a novel functional food for preventing diabetes-induced intestinal symptoms.