In Vitro Digestion and Fermentation of Different Ethanol-Fractional Polysaccharides from Dendrobium officinale: Molecular Decomposition and Regulation on Gut Microbiota.

Polysaccharides from Dendrobium officinale have garnered attention for their diverse and well-documented biological activities. In this study, we isolated three ethanol-fractionated polysaccharides from Dendrobium officinale (EPDO) and investigated their digestive properties and effects on gut microbiota regulation in vitro. The results indicated that after simulating digestion in saliva, gastric, and small intestinal fluids, three EPDOs, EPDO-40, EPDO-60 and EPDO-80, with molecular weights (Mw) of 442.6, 268.3 and 50.8 kDa, respectively, could reach the large intestine with a retention rate exceeding 95%. During in vitro fermentation, the EPDOs were broken down in a "melting" manner, resulting in a decrease in their Mw. EPDO-60 degraded more rapidly than EPDO-40, likely due to its moderate Mw. After 24 h, the total production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) for EPDO-60 reached 51.2 ± 1.9 mmol/L, which was higher than that of EPDO-80. Additionally, there was an increase in the relative abundance of Bacteroides, which are capable of metabolizing polysaccharides. EPDO-60 also promoted the growth of specific microbiota, including Prevotella 9 and Parabacteroides, which could potentially benefit from these polysaccharides. Most notably, by comparing the gut microbiota produced by different fermentation carbon sources, we identified the eight most differential gut microbiota specialized in polysaccharide metabolism at the genus level. Functional prediction of these eight differential genera suggested roles in controlling replication and repair, regulating metabolism, and managing genetic information transmission. This provides a new reference for elucidating the specific mechanisms by which EPDOs influence the human body. These findings offer new evidence to explain how EPDOs differ in their digestive properties and contribute to the establishment of a healthy gut microbiota environment in the human body.

High arabinoxylan fine structure specificity to gut bacteria driven by corn genotypes but not environment.

While gut bacteria have different abilities to utilize dietary fibers, the degree of fiber structural alignment to bacteria species is not well understood. Corn bran arabinoxylan (CAX) was used to investigate how minor polymer fine structural differences at the genotype × environment level influences the human gut microbiota. CAXs were extracted from 4 corn genotypes × 3 growing years and used in in vitro fecal fermentations. CAXs from different genotypes had varied contents of arabinose/xylose ratio (0.46-0.54), galactose (58-101 mg/g), glucuronic acid (18-32 mg/g). There was genotype- but not environment-specific differences in fine structures. After 24 h fermentation, CAX showed different acetate (71-86 mM), propionate (35-44 mM), butyrate (7-10 mM), and total short chain fatty acid (SCFA) (117-137 mM) production. SCFA profiles and gut microbiota both shifted in a genotype-specific way. In conclusion, the study reveals a very high specificity of fiber structure to gut bacteria use and SCFA production.

Causal relations among starch fine molecular structure, lamellar/crystalline structure and in vitro digestion kinetics of native rice starch.

Native rice starch is a source of slowly digestible starch in e.g. low-moisture baked products, while the molecular and lamellar/crystalline structure giving rise to this low-digestibility property is still largely unknown. In this study, the in vitro digestion kinetics of 11 rice starches with a wide range of amylose content were investigated. Applying the logarithm of slope (LOS) plot to the starch digestograms suggested that only a single first-order kinetics phase existed. More importantly, results for the first time showed that rice starches with shorter amylopectin short chains (DP 10-26) had more perfectly aligned crystalline lamellae and much slower digestion rates than the other starches. Interestingly, no correlations were found between the starch lamellar thicknesses with its digestion rate. It suggests that lamellar perfection plays a dominant role in the determination of native starch digestibility. Furthermore, starches with relatively shorter amylose short and medium chains showed a significantly higher amount of V-type amylose-lipid complex, and smaller maximum digestion extent. These results could help the rice industry develop a new generation of rice products with slower starch digestion rate and more desirable nutritional values.

Fecal microbiota responses to rice RS3 are specific to amylose molecular structure.

Resistant starch type 3 (RS3) benefits colon health, but the molecular structural reasons for this effect are unclear. Five rice starches with varied amylose content (19.1 %-40.6 %) were used to investigate their effect on gut microbiota. Size-exclusion chromatography and fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis were used to characterize whole starch molecular size distributions and chain length distributions. It was found that RS3 with more chains of degree of polymerization (DP) 36-100 and smaller molecular size can promote the relative abundance of some classes of gut bacteria, while other classes were promoted by RS3 with fewer chains of DP 36-100 and larger molecular size. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy showed that crystallinity types B or C and differences in physical surface affected the microbiota. This study shows that RS3s with different fine structures are utilized differently by gut microbiota, which may be applied to develop functional foods for gut health.

Relations between changes in starch molecular fine structure and in thermal properties during rice grain storage.

The eating and cooking quality (ECQ) of stored rice grains is significantly affected by ageing, but the molecular mechanisms for this are not well understood. In the present study, changes of starch hierarchical structures and thermal properties of starch were investigated for rices with up to 12 months storage. For the first time, it was seen that storage resulted in molecular degradation of starch. This mainly involved shorter amylose chains and around (1 → 6)-α glycosidic branching points of amylopectin, which altered the crystalline structure. This resulted in lower gelatinization temperatures and enthalpy but higher crystalline heterogeneity. The ageing effect was varietally-dependent. The information obtained from this study offers improved molecular-level understanding of the effects of ageing process on rice cooking and eating qualities.

New insight into PM2.5 pollution patterns in Beijing based on one-year measurement of chemical compositions.

In recent years, air pollution has become a major concern in China, especially in the capital city of Beijing. Haze events occur in Beijing over all four seasons, exhibiting distinct characteristics. In this study, the typical evolution patterns of atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5µm (PM2.5) in each season were illustrated by episode-based analysis. In addition, a novel method was developed to elucidate the driving species of pollution, which is the largest contributor to the incremental PM2.5 (ΔPM2.5), not PM2.5. This method revealed a temporal variation of the driving species throughout the year: nitrate-driven spring, sulfate-driven summer, nitrate-driven early fall, and organic matters (OM)-driven late fall and winter. These results suggested that primary organic particles or volatile organic compounds emissions were dominant in the heating season due to residential heating, while NOx and SO2 emissions dominated in the other seasons. Besides, nitrate formation seemed more significant than sulfate formation during severe pollution episodes. It was also found that the pollution formation mechanism in the winter showed some unique features in comparison with the other seasons: aqueous reactions were more important in the winter, while multiple pathways coexisted in the other seasons. Furthermore, this study confirmed that the PM2.5 in Beijing was moderately acidic despite a fully neutralized system. In addition, the acidity variation during pollution episodes displayed different patterns between seasons and was driven by both the variation of aerosol water and chemical compositions. These results provide a new perspective to understand the characteristics and mechanisms of aerosol pollution in Beijing. However, more accurate measurements are necessary for effective air pollution control that depends on the seasonal variation of fine particle formation in Beijing and the surrounding areas.