The beneficial mechanism of chitosan and chitooligosaccharides in the intestine on different health status
Yanli Chen, Zhenmin Ling, Xing Wang, Simin Zong, Jinfeng Yang, Qing Zhang, Jing Zhang, Xiangkai Li
Abstract
Chitosan and Chitooligosaccharides can serve as prominent food materials with high biological activities, of which the intestinal flora regulation is critical to probiotic regulation as reported by increasing studies. However, no such review has summarized their regulation about intestinal flora and the molecular mechanisms on the intestinal part. In this review, their intestinal manipulating mechanisms on healthy, obese, diabetic individuals and those with other diseases are mainly summarized. In sum, they improve the intestinal villi on healthy individuals by up-regulating Bifidobacteri and Lactobacill and reducing the lipids absorption in the obese intestine by up-regulating weight reducing bacteria (e.g., Coprobacillus cateniformis and Clostridium leptum). Moreover, they inhibit the intestinal absorption of glucose and regulate certain diabetes-related bacteria, reducing intestinal inflammation and up-regulating the tight junction protein expression in epithelial cells of their anti-diabetic effects. This review is aiming to provide some mechanism study of chitosan and chitooligosaccharides as food materials.