Fermented Rosa roxburghii Tratt juice ameliorates obesity by modulating the composition of gut microbiota in high-fat diet induced obese mice

Rosa roxburghii Tratt is abundant in a variety of active ingredients, which exhibit regulatory effects on gut microbiota, hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities, and antioxidant properties. However, the impact of probiotic-fermented Rosa roxburghii Tratt juice on obesity and related complications remains unclear. Thus, using a high-fat diet (HFD) mouse obesity model and comparing it to the model group after 56 d of consecutive gavage with probiotic fermented Rosa roxburghii Tratt juice (FRTJ), Rosa roxburghii Tratt juice (RTJ), saline, and orlistat, respectively, we investigated the effect of FRTJ on obesity and related complications in this study. In HFD-induced obese mice, FRTJ supplementation significantly reduced fat accumulation and improved dyslipidemia, liver inflammation, endotoxemia, and colonic mucosal damage compared to the model group (MC). Moreover, FRTJ treatment was superior to RTJ treatment. FRTJ intervention dramatically improved the diversity and changed the composition of gut microbiota for the better. Compared with the MC group, the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes at least decreased by 40.93% after FRTJ supplementation. Additionally, the FRTJ intervention led to a significant enhancement in the presence of beneficial bacteria, including Bacteroidetes, Lactobacillaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Corynebacteriaceae, Lactobacillus, Akkermansia, and Clostridium_XlVa. Conversely, the relative abundance of harmful bacteria such as Firmicutes, Porphyromonadaceae, Desulfovibrionaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, Allobaculum, Barnesiella, and Desulfovibrio was observed to decrease. The results of the correlation analysis revealed that the following bacteria had different relationships with body weight: Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Lactobacillaceae, Lactobacillus, Tenericutes, and Saccharibacteria had negative correlations with body weight (P < 0.05), while Allobaculum, Paenalcaligenes, Barnesiella, SR1, Porphyromonadaceae, Firmicutes, and Deferribacteres were positively correlated with body weight (P < 0.05). In addition, we conducted antibiotic intervention experiments to assess the effects of FRTJ on the gut microbiota. The results showed that antibiotic treatment eliminated all metabolic improvements mediated by FRTJ, suggesting that the beneficial effects of FRTJ on obesity symptoms and associated metabolic disorders are exerted by regulating gut microbiota composition.