The aerial parts of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. strengthen intestinal barrier and modulate gut microbiota imbalance in streptozocin-induced diabetic mice

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge., a Traditional Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, has been used as a health-care food recently. The aerial parts of S. miltiorrhiza Bge. (DJ) are rich in phenolic acids similar to the rhizome. However, the functional and health-care effects of DJ are not clear. We aimed to investigate the impact of DJ on the intestinal barrier and gut microbiota dysfunction in diabetic mice. DJ could reverse the decreased VIP level and the increased AGEs level in diabetic mice. Importantly, DJ strengthened the intestinal barrier of diabetic mice by up-regulating the tight junction proteins expressions (ZO-1, Occludin and Claudin-5) in ileum and colon but not in duodenum. DJ could modulate the diabetes-induced gut microbiota imbalance. Additionally, DJ was proved to have no enterotoxicity on normal mice, which suggested that DJ might serve as a novel functional food for preventing diabetes-induced intestinal symptoms.