Metabolic Fate of Lignin in Birch Glucuronoxylan Extracts as Dietary Fiber Studied in a Rat Model

Scope

While previously considered inert, recent studies suggest lignin metabolism with unknown metabolic fates is occurring in the gastrointestinal tract of several animal models. This study focuses on analyzing the potential metabolites of lignin.

Methods and results

The diets of rats include relatively pure birch glucuronoxylan (pureGX) with residual lignin or lignin-rich GX (GXpoly) in their diet. Nuclear magnetic spectroscopy of the lignin isolated from the GXpoly-fed rats fecal sample shows high alteration in chemical structure, whereas lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) are enriched in fecal samples from the pureGX group. Moreover, the increased syringyl-to-guaiacyl (S/G) ratio suggests that lignin G-units are predominantly metabolized based on pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (pyr-GC/MS). The presence of small phenolic metabolites identified in urine samples of the GXpoly group, for example, ferulic and sinapic acids, their sulfate and glucuronide derivatives, and 4-sulfobenzylalcohol, suggests that the small fragmented lignin metabolites in the large intestine enter the plasma, and are further processed in the liver. Finally, the relative abundances of polyphenol-degrading Enterorhabdus and Akkermansia in the gut microbiota are associated with lignin metabolism.

Conclusion

These findings give further evidence to lignin metabolism in the gut of nonruminants and provide insight to the potential microbes and metabolic routes.