Reconstituting gut microbiota-colonocyte interactions reverses diet-induced cognitive deficits: The beneficial of eucommiae cortex polysaccharides

Consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD) has been implicated in cognitive deficits and gastrointestinal dysfunction in humans, with the gut microbiota emerging as a pivotal mediator of these diet-associated pathologies. The introduction of plant-based polysaccharides into the diet as a therapeutic strategy to alleviate such conditions is gaining attention. Nevertheless, the mechanistic paradigm by which polysaccharides modulate the gut microbiota remains largely undefined. This study investigated the mechanisms of action of polysaccharides (EPs) in mitigating gut dysbiosis and examined their contribution to rectifying diet-related cognitive decline. Initially, we employed fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and gut microbiota depletion to verify the causative role of changes in the gut microbiota induced by HFD in synapse engulfment-dependent cognitive impairments. Subsequently, colonization of the gut of chow-fed mice with ( ) from HFD mice confirmed that inhibition of by EPs was a necessary prerequisite for alleviating HFD-induced cognitive impairments. Finally, supplementation of HFD mice with butyrate and treatment of EPs mice with GW9662 demonstrated that EPs inhibited the expansion of in the colon of HFD mice by reshaping the interactions between the gut microbiota and colonocytes. Findings from FMT and antibiotic treatments demonstrated that HFD-induced cognitive impairments pertaining to neuronal spine loss were contingent on gut microbial composition. Association analysis revealed strong associations between bacterial taxa belonging to the phylum and cognitive performance in mice. Further, introducing from HFD-fed mice into standard diet-fed mice underscored the integral role of proliferation in triggering excessive synaptic engulfment-related cognitive deficits in HFD mice. Crucially, EPs effectively counteracted the bloom of and subsequent neuroinflammatory responses mediated by microglia, essential for cognitive improvement in HFD-fed mice. Mechanistic insights revealed that EPs promoted the production of bacteria-derived butyrate, thereby ameliorating HFD-induced colonic mitochondrial dysfunction and reshaping colonocyte metabolism. This adjustment curtailed the availability of growth substrates for facultative anaerobes, which in turn limited the uncontrolled expansion of . Our study elucidates that colonocyte metabolic disturbances, which promote overgrowth, are a likely cause of HFD-induced cognitive deficits. Furthermore, dietary supplement