Extracts of Ganoderma lucidum attenuate lipid metabolism and modulate gut microbiota in high-fat diet fed rats

This study aimed to investigate the effects of 55% ethanol extracts from G. lucidum (GL55) on high-fat diet (HFD) induced hyperlipidaemia and gut microbiota modulation in rats. UPLC-QTOF MS-MS indicated that GL55 was enriched with triterpenoids. GL55 markedly alleviated the dyslipidemia in HFD fed rats through decreasing the levels of serum total triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), alanine transaminase (ALT), free fatty acids (FFA), fasting blood-glucose (FBG) and inhibiting hepatic steatosis. Furthermore, high throughput sequencing analysis revealed that GL55 supplementation altered the composition of gut microbiota, in particular increased the relative abundance of functionally relevant enterotypes, such as Alloprevotella, Ruminococcus and Prevotella, but decreased the proportion of Turicibacter and Clostridium XVIII compared with the HFD group. The Spearman's correlation analysis revealed that Alloprevotella, Ruminococcus and Prevotella were negatively correlated with serum lipid profiles. Meanwhile, GL55 treatment regulated mRNA and protein expressions levels involved in lipid and glucose metabolism.