The green tea modulates large intestinal microbiome and exo/endogenous metabolome altered through chronic UVB-exposure

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 8;12(11):e0187154. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187154. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The attenuating effects of green tea supplements (GTS) against the ultraviolet (UV) radiation induced skin damages are distinguished. However, the concomitant effects of GTS on the large intestinal microbiomes and associated metabolomes are largely unclear. Herein, we performed an integrated microbiome-metabolome analysis to uncover the esoteric links between gut microbiome and exo/endogenous metabolome maneuvered in the large intestine of UVB-exposed mice subjected to dietary GTS. In UVB-exposed mice groups (UVB), class Bacilli and order Bifidobacteriales were observed as discriminant taxa with decreased lysophospholipid levels compared to the unexposed mice groups subjected to normal diet (NOR). Conversely, in GTS fed UVB-exposed mice (U+GTS), the gut-microbiome diversity was greatly enhanced with enrichment in the classes, Clostridia and Erysipelotrichia, as well as genera, Allobaculum and Lachnoclostridium. Additionally, the gut endogenous metabolomes changed with an increase in amino acids, fatty acids, lipids, and bile acids contents coupled with a decrease in nucleobases and carbohydrate levels. The altered metabolomes exhibited high correlations with GTS enriched intestinal microflora. Intriguingly, the various conjugates of green tea catechins viz., sulfated, glucuronided, and methylated ones including their exogenous derivatives were detected from large intestinal contents and liver samples. Hence, we conjecture that the metabolic conversions for the molecular components in GTS strongly influenced the gut micro-environment in UVB-exposed mice groups, ergo modulate their gut-microbiome as well as exo/endogenous metabolomes.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Body Weight / radiation effects
  • Catechin / analysis
  • Diet
  • Dietary Supplements
  • Eating / radiation effects
  • Female
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / radiation effects*
  • Intestine, Large / metabolism
  • Intestine, Large / microbiology
  • Intestine, Large / radiation effects
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Metabolic Networks and Pathways / radiation effects
  • Metabolome / radiation effects*
  • Mice
  • Tea / chemistry*
  • Ultraviolet Rays*

Substances

  • Tea
  • Catechin

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Strategic Initiative for Microbiomes in Agriculture and Food, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Republic of Korea (as part of the (multi-ministerial) Genome Technology to Business Translation Program) (Grant No.: 916005-2) to CHL, and by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation funded by the Korean government, MSIP (2016M3A9A5923160) to CHL.