Gut Microbiome-Serum Metabolism Revealed the Allergenicity of Ferulic Acid Combined with Glucose-Modified β-Lactoglobulin

J Agric Food Chem. 2024 May 8. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c01545. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

A novel strategy combining ferulic acid and glucose was proposed to reduce β-lactoglobulin (BLG) allergenicity and investigate whether the reduction in allergenicity was associated with gut microbiome and serum metabolism. As a result, the multistructure of BLG changed, and the modified BLG decreased significantly the contents of IgE, IgG, IgG1, and mMCP-1 in serum, improved the diversity and structural composition of gut microbiota, and increased the content of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in allergic mice. Meanwhile, allergic mice induced by BLG affected arachidonic acid, tryptophan, and other metabolic pathways in serum, the modified BLG inhibited the production of metabolites in arachidonic acid metabolism pathway and significantly increased tryptophan metabolites, and this contribution helps in reducing BLG allergenicity. Overall, reduced allergenicity of BLG after ferulic acid was combined with glucose modification by regulating gut microbiota, the metabolic pathways of arachidonic acid and tryptophan. The results may offer new thoughts alleviating the allergy risk of allergenic proteins.

Keywords: allergenicity; gut microbiome; serum metabolism; β-lactoglobulin.