Dietary Supplement of Amomum villosum Lour. Polysaccharide Attenuates Ulcerative Colitis in BALB/c Mice.

Amomum villosum Lour. ( A. villosum ), a comestible medicinal plant, has been traditionally used in China to treat diarrhea, stomach fullness, and abdominal distension. Polysaccharide, the main chemical component of A. villosum , has been shown to possess potential antioxidant and glycosidase inhibitory activities; however, whether it has anticolitis activity is unknown. The aim of this research was to evaluate the anticolitis effects of A. villosum polysaccharide (AVLP) in BALB/c mice. The results showed that AVLP administration significantly reversed body weight loss, colon shortening and colon weight gain and decreased the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in colitis mice ( p < 0.05). AVLP administration also maintained intestinal barrier function by the upregulation of ZO-1 protein expression ( p < 0.05). In addition, high-throughput sequencing analysis showed that AVLP possessed a great regulatory effect on the growth of Adlercreutzia , Clostridium , Streptococcus , Parabacteroides , Helicobacter , Odoribacter, and Alistipes ( p < 0.05, LDA score > 2). The correlation analysis revealed that the protective effects against colitis of AVLP were highly correlated with intestinal bacterium regulation. These results suggest that AVLP intake could serve as a prospective nutritional strategy for inflammatory bowel diseases.