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. 2019 Mar 22;17(3):187–197. doi: 10.1016/S1875-5364(19)30021-4

Houttuynia cordata polysaccharide alleviated intestinal injury and modulated intestinal microbiota in H1N1 virus infected mice

Mei-Yu CHEN a,Δ, Hong LI a,Δ, Xiao-Xiao LU a, Li-Jun LING b, Hong-Bo WENG a, Wei SUN a, Dao-Feng CHEN b,**, Yun-Yi ZHANG a,*
PMCID: PMC7128561  PMID: 30910055

Abstract

Houttuynia cordata polysaccharide (HCP) is extracted from Houttuynia cordata, a key traditional Chinese medicine. The study was to investigate the effects of HCP on intestinal barrier and microbiota in H1N1 virus infected mice. Mice were infected with H1N1 virus and orally administrated HCP at a dosage of 40 mg(kg−1(d−1. H1N1 infection caused pulmonary and intestinal injury and gut microbiota imbalance. HCP significantly suppressed the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α and decreased mucosubstances in goblet cells, but restored the level of zonula occludens-1 in intestine. HCP also reversed the composition change of intestinal microbiota caused by H1N1 infection, with significantly reduced relative abundances of Vibrio and Bacillus, the pathogenic bacterial genera. Furthermore, HCP rebalanced the gut microbiota and restored the intestinal homeostasis to some degree. The inhibition of inflammation was associated with the reduced level of Toll-like receptors and interleukin-1β in intestine, as well as the increased production of interleukin-10. Oral administration of HCP alleviated lung injury and intestinal dysfunction caused by H1N1 infection. HCP may gain systemic treatment by local acting on intestine and microbiota. This study proved the high-value application of HCP.

Key words: H1N1 influenza virus, Houttuynia cordata, Inflammation, Intestinal Barrier, Microbiota, Polysaccharide

Footnotes

Available online 20 Mar., 2019

[Research funding] This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81330089, 81673658, 81274165 and 81673713) and the State Key Program for New Drugs from the Ministry of Science and Technology, China (No. 2018ZX0935003-002).

These authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Contributor Information

Dao-Feng CHEN, Email: dfchen@shmu.edu.cn.

Yun-Yi ZHANG, Email: zhcheng@shmu.edu.cn.

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