Jujube polysaccharides mitigated anemia in rats with chronic kidney disease: Regulation of short chain fatty acids release and erythropoietin production

Abstract

Jujube polysaccharides (JP) is one of the active food sourced glycans in dietary fruit of Ziziphus jujuba, which has been considered for the treatment of blood deficiency. In this study, a chronic kidney disease (CKD) rat model was used to evaluate the effect of JP and its mechanism on CKD-associated anemia. In CKD rats, JP treatment significantly ameliorated kidney function, kidney pathological injury and hematological parameters, including increasing red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit and platelet count. Moreover, LC-MS/MS targeted metabolomics results showed that JP promoted short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) release in CKD rats. Besides, JP alternated the serum erythropoietin (EPO) level, kidney EPO mRNA and kidney EPO protein via HIF-α signaling. Collectively, these results provide evidence that the effect of JP on CKD-associated anemia may be involved in regulation of SCFAs release and erythropoietin production, supporting further development of JP as food supplements in treating CKD-associated anemia.

Keywords

• Jujube polysaccharides
• Chronic kidney disease
• Anaemia
• Erythropoietin
• Hypoxia inducible factor-α
• Short chain fatty acids