Lycium barbarum relieves gut microbiota dysbiosis and improves colonic barrier function in mice following antibiotic perturbation

Diet and antibiotic strongly affect human health by modulating gut microbiota (GM) composition. To investigate how Lycium barbarum (LB) relieves GM dysbiosis and enhances colonic barrier function, C57BL/6 mice were chronically exposed to sub-therapeutic antibiotic dosages or not (control), and fed a 1.5% LB diet for 10 weeks. HiSeq sequencing of 16S rDNA revealed that oral antibiotics distinctly lowered the microbial diversity and richness, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Bacteroidales_S24-7_group, Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Lachnoclostridium, Akkermansia, Anaerotruncus, and Odoribacter, as well as increased Proteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcaceae, Escherichia-Shigella, Morganella, and Enterococcus. Compared with the antibiotic-treated group, dietary LB reversed the variations in these bacteria, improved the abundance of certain short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria, SCFA concentrations, and decreased fecal ammonia and pH value. Accordingly, this promoted the expression of tight junction proteins, immune barrier, sequentially improved barrier function, histomorphology, and development in the intestine. The results show that dietary LB can partially mitigate antibiotics-induced dysbiosis.