Dual Regulation of Sulfonated Lignin to Prevent and Treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Shuang Qi, Bo Jiang, Caoxing Huang, Yongcan Jin
Abstract
With the rapid increase of diabetes cases in the world, there is an increasing demand for slowing down and managing diabetes and its effects. It is considered that a viable prophylactic treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is to reduce carbohydrate digestibility by controlling the activities of α-amylase and α-glucosidase to control postprandial hyperglycemia and promote the growth of intestinal beneficial bacteria. In this work, the effects of sulfonated lignin with different sulfonation degrees (0.8 mmol/g, SL 1; 2.9 mmol/g, SL 2 ) on the inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase and the proliferation of intestinal beneficial bacteria in vitro were investigated. The results showed that both SL 1 and SL 2 can inhibit the activity of α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The inhibition capacity (IC 50, 32.35 μg/mL) of SL 2 with a low concentration (0–0.5 mg/mL) to α-amylase was close to that of acarbose to α-amylase (IC 50, 27.33 μg/mL). Compared with the control groups, the bacterial cell concentrations of Bifidobacteria adolescentis and Lactobacillus acidophilus cultured with SL 1 and SL 2 increased in varying degrees (8–36%), and the produced short-chain fatty acids were about 1.2 times higher. This work demonstrates the prospect of sulfonated lignin as a prebiotic for the prevention and treatment of T2DM, which provides new insights for opening up a brand new field of lignin.