Abstract
Fucoidan, brown seaweed-derived dietary fibers (DFs), can be considered a promising candidate for modulating immune responses. Due to its structural complexity and diversity, it is unclear whether Sargassum graminifolium fucoidans (SGFs) also show marvelous immunoregulatory effects. In the present study, two fractions, SGF-1 and SGF-2, were purified from SGFs by DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow and Sephacryl S-400 HR column chromatography. We investigated the in vivo immune regulatory activity of SGF-2 and explored the immune activation of SGF-2 fecal fermentation products with in vitro fecal fermentation combined with a Caco-2/RAW264.7 co-culture system. In vivo results exhibited that SGF-2 could elevate the thymus/spleen indices, CD8+ splenic T lymphocyte subpopulations, and CD4+ Foxp3+ splenic Tregs. The 16S high-throughput sequencing results showed that SGF-2 administration significantly increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus, Alloprevotella, Ruminococcus, and Akkermansia. In addition, it was found that SGF-2 fermented by feces could significantly improve the phagocytosis, NO, and cytokine (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10) production of macrophages in the co-culture system. These results indicated that SGFs have the potential to modulate immunity and promote health by affecting the gut microbiota.