Effect of long-term intake of ginseng extracts on gut microbiota in rats

Abstract

As a traditional Chinese medicine in China, ginseng has a wide range of medicinal and health value. At present, the nutritional value of ginseng as a medicinal food has been a hotspot in studies. Intestinal flora plays an important role in the organism, which has been confirmed by many researchers. In order to find out the effect of long-term intake of ginseng extracts on the gut microbiota structure of rats, MiSeq sequencing platform was applied in macro gene sequencing of cecal contents in the long-term use of ginseng extracts modelin rats. According to the findings, after long-term administration with ginseng extracts, probiotics such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Allobaculum and Clostridium, in the intestinal flora of rats were significantly increased, suggesting that long-term intake of ginseng extracts could facilitate the growth of probiotics. Meanwhile, some pathogenic bacteria, such as Butyricimonas, Parabacteroides, Alistipes, Helicobacter, were significantly down-regulated, indicating that long-term intake of ginseng extracts may have a positive effect in inhibiting the colonization of pathogenic bacteria. In conclusion, this study provided an important basis for the research on the effect of long-term use of ginseng extracts on the intestinal flora of rats.