Sulfated modification enhances the modulatory effect of yam polysaccharide on gut microbiota in cyclophosphamide-treated mice

Our previous study has demonstrated that sulfated yam polysaccharide (SCYP) had a stronger immunomodulatory activity than yam polysaccharide (CYP). In order to investigate how the sulfated modification influence the immunological activity of CYP, this research was mainly focused on the study of gut microbiotal. The results showed that SCYP treatment could increase the digestive enzyme activities of colon contents and restore the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in mice that were decreased by cyclophosphamide (Cy) treatment. Furthermore, SCYP treatment could modulate the structure of the gut microbiota, which was mainly manifest in the result of an increased abundances of Lactobacillus, Bacteroidetes and Akkermansia, and the decrease of the proportion of Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia in the microbial community. Diversity and overall structure of microbial community were also improved by SCYP treatment based on alpha-diversity and beta-diversity analysis results. The biomarkers of the gut microbial that were regulated by SCYP have been identified by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe). These findings further indicate that there is great potential for SCYP to be developed into prebiotics or functional foods.