Whole strawberry contains various bioactive components such as vitamins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and fiber, which exhibits various health benefits. Our research demonstrated that whole strawberry in the diet inhibited dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice, which was evidenced by the ability of whole strawberry in reducing disease activity index, preventing the colon shortening, and alleviating the colonic tissue damages in the colitic mice. To elucidate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of strawberry in the colon, metabolomics analysis and next generation sequencing were conducted on colonic samples. The results showed that colitic mice had severe microbiota dysbiosis and aberrant purine metabolism with excessive uric acid accumulated in the colon, while whole strawberry treatment alleviated microbiota dysbiosis and decreased colonic levels of uric acid in the colitic mice. Furthermore, a fecal transplant study demonstrated that the gut microbiota dysbiosis directly caused the accumulation of uric acid in the mouse colon, as well as colonic inflammation in mice. Dietary supplementation of uric acid in mice confirmed that excessive uric acid in the colon promoted colonic inflammation, and dietary whole strawberry effectively reduced colonic uric acid levels and inhibited colonic inflammation in the uric acid-fed mice. Overall our results demonstrated a novel anti-inflammation mechanism: whole strawberry alleviated microbiota dysbiosis, which in turn prevented colonic inflammation by inhibiting microbiota dysbiosis-induced accumulation of uric acid in the colon.

Gut microbiota-mediated protective effects of whole strawberry against colonic inflammation

2019 Fall National Meeting

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