Tea seed saponins ameliorate cyclophosphamide-induced intestinal injury, immune disorder and gut microbial dysbiosis in mice

The impacts of tea seed saponins (TSS) on intestinal injury, immune disorder, gut microbial dysbiosis and serum metabolome in cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced mice were explored. The findings indicated that TSS signifi-cantly reversed the spleen index, protected intestinal mucosa, and increased the protein levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), occludin, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) in colon and small intestine of mice. Microbiome analysis suggested that TSS shaped the gut microbial community structure, and mainly increased the proportion of Bacillus and Alloprevotella. The in vitro experiment further demonstrated the ability of TSS to promote the growth of Bacillus. Serum metabolome analysis showed that TSS significantly upregulated and downregulated 18 and 15 metabolites, respectively. Eight of these compounds were correlated with Bacillus and Alloprevotella. Over all, this work demonstrated that TSS could improve CTX-induced immune imbalance, in-testinal barrier disruption and gut microbial dysbiosis, and was a potential candidate for regulating intestinal homeostasis.