In vitro simulated digestion and colonic fermentation of lychee pulp phenolics and their impact on metabolic pathways based on fecal metabolomics of mice

Abstract

Lychee pulp phenolics (LPP) was subjected to four simulated gastrointestinal digestions and colonic fermentation to investigate the changes in its phenolic composition and bioactivities; the fecal metabolic profiles of LPP-fed mice were also elucidated using UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS. After simulated salivary, gastric and intestinal digestion, slight increases in phenolic acids and (+)-catechin occurred relative to undigested LPP, whereas other flavonoids showed an opposite trend. Unlike the above-described separate simulated digestions, successive gastrointestinal digestion significantly enhanced the release of phenolic compounds (p < 0.05), gallic acid (413.79%), ferulic acid (393.69%), (+)-catechin (570.27%) and rutin (247.54%). During colonic fermentation, ten detected phenolics were utilized by gut microbes, among which procyanidin B2 (22.35%) was the most degraded. LPP fermentation accelerated the production of short-chain fatty acids (122.79%). The metabolic pathways altered by LPP including unsaturated fatty acid, biotin, and nicotinamide metabolism may be the potential regulatory mechanisms and associated with the integrity of the gut barrier. These findings indicate that LPP may act as a promising candidate to protect gut health.