Selenium-containing polysaccharide from Spirulina platensis alleviates Cd-induced toxicity in mice by inhibiting liver inflammation mediated by gut microbiota

Abstract

Selenium-containing polysaccharide from Spirulina platensis (Se-SPP) has been demonstrated to help in inhibiting cadmium-induced injury in mice, but the underlying mechanism has not been determined. This study aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of Se-SPP on alleviating Cd-induced toxicity in mice by targeting liver inflammatory and gut microbiota. Se-SPP supplementation for 28 days in Cd-induced toxic mice significantly mitigated liver pathological damage and inflammation, which was correlated to the upregulation of antioxidant enzyme activity. Furthermore, Se-SPP effectively restored Cd-induced disruption of the intestinal barrier compared to model group, as indicated by the depletion of Muribaculaceae and the enrichment of Ruminococcaceae. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed that the Se-SPP-altered microbes were highly correlated with inflammation-related indexes in Cd-induced toxic mice. Noteworthily, the modulation of Se-SPP on the Ruminococcaceae population contributed to the improvement of Cd-induced inflammation-related diseases by downregulating the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in the liver. These findings suggested that Se-SPP may act as prebiotics for ameliorating Cd-induced toxicity in mice by inhibiting liver inflammation mediated by gut microbiota, and target-specific microbiota of Cd-induced inflammation-related diseases deserve further attention.

Arthrospira platensis as future food: a review on functional ingredients, bioactivities and application in the food industry

“…Zhou et al . (2022) found that A. platensis selenium polysaccharide could significantly recover the intestinal barrier damage caused by cadmium and improve the related disease symptoms induced by Cadmium. The broad application prospects of A. platensis polysaccharides call for further research on their molecular fine chemical structure, structure–activity relationship and pharmacology.…”