Journal Article Review Epublish
PubMed: 40573088 DOI: 10.3390/nu17121977
Alginate Oligosaccharide and Gut Microbiota: Exploring the Key to Health.
Nutrients 17(12)
Authors: Meiling Song, Lin Chen, Chen Dong, Minghui Tang, Yuan Wei, Depeng Lv, Quancai Li, Zhen Chen
Affiliations
- School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
- Marine Biomedical Research Institute of Qingdao, Qingdao 266071, China.
- Marine Biomedical Research Institute of Qingdao, Qingdao 266071, China. Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Ministry of Education, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Glycoscience and Glycoengineering, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
Abstract
Alginate oligosaccharide (AOS), a degradation product of alginate derived from marine brown algae, has attracted significant attention due to its potent ability to modulate gut microbiota and enhance human health. This review aims to systematically introduce current evidence on the interactions between AOS and gut microbial communities, focusing on how AOS improves health through regulating gut microbiota. Initially, the structural factors of AOS that influence their functions are highlighted, including molecular weight, monomer composition, terminal structure, and chemical modifications. Importantly, AOS primarily exerts beneficial effects by adjusting gut microbiota community and outputs, which include the promotion of probiotics, the inhibition of pathogens, the balance of microbiota composition, and the increase of short-chain fatty acid production. Moreover, the discovered mechanisms underlying AOS-mediated health promotion via microbiota modulation are detailed comprehensively, specifically emphasizing intestinal barrier maintenance, antioxidation, dual-regulation of immune and inflammatory responses, pathogenic infection inhibition, metabolic improvement, uric acid excretion promotion, anti-tumor effects, and anti-skin aging. Such beneficial effects make AOS valuable in keeping healthy, preventing disorders, and intervening in diseases. Despite these findings and research progress, there are yet limitations in studying AOS-gut microbiota interactions, such as precise microbiota-targeted structural optimization, personalized nutritional interventions based on microbial characteristics, and broadening the horizon of microbiota-derived metabolic metabolomic profiles. In conclusion, advancing our understanding of the gut microbiota-centered mechanisms of AOS would probably facilitate novel nutritional strategy development for health promotion.
MeSH
Oligosaccharides, Alginates, Food, Prebiotics, Health Promotion, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Microbiota