Effects of fish protein with glycation extent on gut microbiota and colonic barrier function in mice fed a high-fat diet

Abstract This study aimed to investigate how fish protein with glycation extent affects gut microbiota and colonic barrier function in mice fed a high-fat diet. The mice were fed a fish protein (MP) diet, fish protein with low, medium and high glycation extent (L-GE, M-GE and H-GE) diet for 15 weeks. The glycated fish protein diets greatly increased butyrate production, which was related to the genes expression of butyryl-CoA: acetate CoA-transferase (BUT) and butyrate kinase (BUK), and also considerably improved insulin resistance, but increased the expression of AGEs receptor (RAGE). Among the four diets, the L-GE diet markedly increased occudin and zonulin-1 (ZO-1), lowered inflammation markers, and enhanced butyrate-producing bacteria Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006 and Allobaculum, while H-GE diet decreased Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. Overall, these biological effects were greatly affected by the glycation extent of fish protein, and the fish protein with low glycation extent may provide more potentially positive effects to gut health.