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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Ecotoxicological Method with Marine Bacteria Vibrio anguillarum to Evaluate the Acute Toxicity of Environmental Contaminants
Published on: May 26, 2017
Evaluation of Prebiotic Potential of Three Marine Algae Oligosaccharides from Enzymatic Hydrolysis
Zhen-Lian Han1, Min Yang2, Xiao-Dan Fu3
1College of Food Science & Engineering, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, China. ahanzhenlian@163.com.
Abstract:
Alginate oligosaccharides (AlgO), agarose oligosaccharides (AO), and κ-carrageenan oligosaccharides (KCO) were obtained by specific enzymatic hydrolysis method. The molecular weight distributions of the three oligosaccharides were 1.0⁻5.0 kDa, 0.4⁻1.4 kDa, and 1.0⁻7.0 kDa, respectively. The culture medium was supplemented with the three oligosaccharides and fermented by pig fecal microbiota in vitro, for 24 h. Each oligosaccharide was capable of increasing the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), especially butyric acid, and altering the microbiota composition. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis results showed that the opportunistic pathogenic bacteria Escherichia, Shigella, and Peptoniphilus, were significantly decreased in AlgO supplemented medium. AO could improve the gut microbiota composition by enriching the abundance of Ruminococcaceae, Coprococcus, Roseburia, and Faecalibacterium. Besides, KCO could increase the abundance of SCFA microbial producers and opportunistic pathogenic flora. Therefore, these results indicate that AlgO and AO can be used as gut microbial regulators and can potentially improve animal/human gastrointestinal health and prevent gut disease, whereas the physiological function of KCO needs further evaluation.
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