Polygonatum odoratum Polysaccharides Modulate Gut Microbiota and Mitigate Experimentally Induced Obesity in Rats

Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota plays vital roles in metabolic diseases. <i>Polygonatum odoratum</i> extract alleviates hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of <i>P. odoratum</i> polysaccharides (POPs) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in rats and whether these effects were related to modulation of gut microbiota. POP treatment attenuated weight gain, fat accumulation, epididymal adipocyte size, liver triglycerides, and total liver cholesterol content in HFD-fed rats. POP administration also increased short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including isobutyric acid, butyric acid, and valeric acid. POP upregulated the expression of genes involved in adipocyte differentiation (<i>Pparg</i>, <i>Cebpa</i>, <i>Cebpb</i>) and lipolysis (<i>Ppara</i>, <i>Atgl</i>), and downregulated those related to lipid synthesis (<i>Srebpf1</i>, <i>Fabp4</i>, <i>Fas</i>), with corresponding changes in PPARγ and FABP4 protein expression. Finally, POP enhanced species richness and improved the gut microbiota community structure, reducing the relative abundances of <i>Clostridium</i>, <i>Enterococcus</i>, <i>Coprobacillus</i>, <i>Lactococcus</i>, and <i>Sutterella</i>. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) revealed a clear separation between HFD-fed rats and all other treatment groups. Correlation analysis identified negative and positive associations between obesity phenotypes and 28 POP-influenced operational taxonomic units (OTUs), including putative SCFA-producing bacteria. Our data suggest that POP supplementation may attenuate features of obesity in HFD-fed rats in association with the modulation of gut microbiota.