Table 1.

Chinese herbs and herbal extracts treating DM by regulating the gut microbiota.

Herbs/Herbal extracts	Models	Changes of the gut microbiota and their metabolites	Core mechanisms	Ref.
Folium Mori	SD rats	Increased: the phyla Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria and class Clostridia	Improve NEFA metabolism	[19]
Dendrobium candidum	KM mice	Increased: the abundance and diversity of gut microbiota	Attenuate oxidative stress	[21]
Rhizoma Dioscoreae	human	Increased: Bifidobacterium	N/A	[22]
Berberine	Wistar/SD rats	Increased: Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus  Decreased: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus	Protect intestinal barrier; suppress inflammatory response; promote GLP-2 secretion	[24–26]
Rhein	db/db mice	Increased: Bacteroidetes, Akkermansia  Decreased: Firmicutes, F/B ratio	Promote GLP-1 secretion	[27]
Seabuckthorn Protein	ICR mice	Increased: Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Bacteroides  Decreased: Clostridium coccoides, PH value	Improve fatty acids metabolism	[28]
Zanthoxylum alkylamides	SD rats	Increased: Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, SCFAs Decreased: Enterococcus, Enterobacterium, Bacteroides, PH value, free ammonia	Inhibit hepatic gluconeogenesis; promote insulin secretion	[29]
Polyphenols from Fructus Mori L.	db/db mice	Increased: Bacteroidetes, Anaeroplasmatales, butyrate, propionate Decreased: Firmicutes, F/B ratio, Bacillus, Lactobacillus	Attenuate oxidative stress	[30]
Polysaccharide from the seed of Plantago asiatica L.	Wistar rats	Increased: Bacteroides, Lactobacillus, Prevotella, SCFAs Decreased: Alistipes obesi	Improve NEFA metabolism; attenuate oxidative stress	[31]
Ganoderma atrum Polysaccharide	Wistar rats	Increased: SCFAs	Attenuate oxidative stress	[32]
Maydis stigma Polysaccharide	KM mice	Increased: Lactobacillus, Bacteroides	N/A	[33]
Radix Pseudostellariae Polysaccharide	C57 mice	Increased: Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium	Attenuate oxidative stress; suppress inflammatory response	[34]
Morus nigra Polysaccharide	db/db mice	Increased: Bacteroidales, Bacteroides Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Akkermansia  Decreased: F/B ratio, opportunistic pathogens such as Staphylococcus and Enterococcus	Regulate lipid metabolism; attenuate oxidative stress	[35]
Polysaccharide from the fermented Momordica charantia L	Wistar rats	Increased: Lactococcus laudensis, Prevotella loescheii, SCFAs Decreased: pH value	Attenuate oxidative stress	[36]

Abbreviations. NEFA: nonesterified fatty acid; F/B: Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes; GLP-2: glucagon-like peptide-2; GLP-1: glucagon-like peptide-1; SCFAs: short chain fatty acids; N/A: not applicable.