Roles of gut microbiota and metabolites in a homogalacturonan-type pectic polysaccharide from Ficus pumila Linn. fruits mediated amelioration of obesity

In this study, the beneficial effects of a homogalacturonan(HG)-type pectic polysaccharide from Ficus pumila L. fruits (FPLP) in obese mice were investigated. The 17-week FPLP treatment effectively attenuated obesity, as mainly demonstrated by the reductions of body weight, serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. The decreased Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes abundance ratio, enriched Akkermansia, and reduced Blautia abundance suggested that FPLP ameliorated the HFD-induced gut dysbiosis. FPLP also influenced the levels of metabolites altered upon HFD feeding, including increases in myristoleic acid and pentadecanoic acid levels. The correlation studies indicated that FPLP ameliorated HFD-induced rise in TC and LDL-C levels through regulating gut microbial community and their associated metabolites. In conclusion, this study extends our understanding of the relationships among gut microbiota (Akkermansia and Blautia), metabolites (myristoleic acid and pentadecanoic acid), HG-type pectin and its TC- and LDL-C- lowering functions.