Vitexin alleviates high-fat diet induced brain oxidative stress and inflammation via anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and gut microbiota modulating properties.

Vitexin, a millet-derived flavonoid, has been reported to have many biological activities. The present study investigated the function of vitexin in neural oxidative stress and neuro-inflammation through H2O2 induced oxidative damage cell model and high-fat diet (HFD)-induced mice model. Both of in vitro and in vivo data indicated that vitexin could reduce the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), increase the activity and expression of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), as well as down regulate the expression of inflammatory factors, such as TNF-α and IL-1β. Additionally, low dose vitexin (10 mg/kg) significantly decreased HFD induced oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain and intestine simultaneously in mice. Analysis of fecal microbiota suggested that vitexin changed the composition of the gut microbiota in HFD mice and regulated inflammation by modulating the richness of specific bacteria such as Akkermansia, Lachnospiraceae, etc. Our findings suggested that vitexin exerted neural protective effects via anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and gut microbiota modulating properties.