Active peptides from Eupolyphaga sinensis walker attenuates experimental hyperlipidemia by regulating the gut microbiota and biomarkers in rats with dyslipidemia

Eupolyphaga sinensis Walker (ESW) is a traditional Chinese medicine formulation used to treat hyperlipidemia. However, the hypolipidemic effect of the active peptides from E. sinensis Walker (APE) is incompletely understood. We studied the hypolipidemic effect of APE and explored the impact of APE on the gut microbiota (GM) in rats suffering from hyperlipidemia. APE was prepared by enzymatic digestion, and its structure was characterized using various methods. The anti-hyperlipidemic activity of APE was assessed using a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced model in zebrafish and rats. In rats, HFD administration caused abnormalities of lipid metabolism and disturbances of the GM and amino acid (AA) profile in plasma. The abundance of bacteria of the phyla Firmicutes and Bacteroides was increased significantly (p < 0.05), and the relative abundance of Lactobacillus species and Clostridium species was decreased significantly (p < 0.05). HFD therapy affected the levels of 12 AAs in vivo: 10 AAs showed increased levels and two AAs had decreased levels (p < 0.05). Similar results were demonstrated in an experiment on fecal microbiota transplantation. APE treatment dose-dependently decreased lipid factors and liver damage (p < 0.05). Sequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene indicated that APE improved the intestinal-flora structure of rats with HL markedly, and increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus species and Clostridium species. Metabolomics analysis indicated that APE could alter the levels of 10 AAs affected by HFD consumption. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) could be a crucial metabolite, and Lactobacillus species and Clostridium species might be important bacteria for the action of APE against hyperlipidemia. We speculate that APE exhibited an anti-hyperlipidemic effect by regulating GABA synthesis in the presence of Lactobacillus species and Clostridium species.