Background

Multiflorin A (MA) is a potential active ingredient of traditional herbal laxative, Pruni semen, with unusual purgative activity and an unclear mechanism, and inhibiting intestinal glucose absorption is a promising mechanism of novel laxatives. However, this mechanism still lacks support and a description of basic research.

Purpose

This study aimed to determine the main contribution of MA to the purgative activity of Pruni semen and elucidate the effect intensity, characteristics, site, and mechanism of MA in mice, and determine the novel mechanism of traditional herbal laxatives from the perspective of intestinal glucose absorption.

Methods

We induced diarrhoea in mice by administering Pruni semen and MA, and the defecation behaviour, glucose tolerance, and intestinal metabolism were analysed. The effects of MA and its metabolite on peristalsis of the intestinal smooth muscle were evaluated using an intestinal motility assay in vitro. Intestinal tight junction proteins, aquaporins, and glucose transporters expression were analysed using immunofluorescence; gut microbiota and faecal metabolites were analysed using 16S rRNA and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Results

MA administration (20 mg/kg) induced watery diarrhoea in over half of the experimental mice. The activity of MA in lowering peak postprandial glucose levels was synchronous with purgative action, with the acetyl group being the active moiety. MA was metabolised primarily in the small intestine, where it decreased sodium-glucose cotransporter-1, occludin, and claudin1 expression, then inhibited glucose absorption, resulting in a hyperosmotic environment. MA also increased the aquaporin3 expression to promote water secretion. Unabsorbed glucose reshapes the gut microbiota and their metabolism in the large intestine and the increasing gas and organic acid promoted defecation. After recovery, the intestinal permeability and glucose absorption function returned, and the abundance of probiotics such as Bifidobacterium increased.

Conclusion

The purgative mechanism of MA involves inhibiting glucose absorption, altering permeability and water channels to promote water secretion in the small intestine, and regulating gut microbiota metabolism in the large intestine. This study is the first systematic experimental study on the purgative effect of MA. Our findings provide new insight into the study of novel purgative mechanisms.