Prebiotic like properties of Patchouli essential oil and its derived compounds on gut microbiota

Pogostemon cablin (PC) is a Chinese medicinal plant traditionally used for the treatment of gastrointestinal symptoms. We investigated the prebiotics effect of patchouli essential oil (PEO) and its derived compounds through the modulation of gut microbiota (GM). in C57BL/6J mice. Fecal microbial DNAs were analyzed and evaluated for GM composition by ERIC-PCR and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We noticed upregulated growth of the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing bacteria, e.g. Anaerostipes butyraticus, Butytivibrio fibrisolvens, Eubacterium uniforme, Clostridium jejuense, and Lactobacillus lactis in PC treated mice. Contrarily, the relative abundance of pathogens Fusobacterium mortiferum, Sutterlla spp., and Helicobacter spp. were reduced by PC treatments. In addition, the key SCFAs receptors, GPR 41, 43 and 109a, were significantly stimulated in the gut epithelial layer of the treated mice. Our findings provide insightful information that the microbiota/host dynamic interaction may play a key role for the pharmacological activities of PEO, PA, PO, and ß-PAE.