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Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Oral Intubation of Adult Zebrafish: A Model for Evaluating Intestinal Uptake of Bioactive Compounds
Published on: September 27, 2018
Characterization, in vitro digestibility, antioxidant activity and intestinal peristalsis in zebrafish of Dioscorea
Ruijiao Wang1, Wei Liu1, Lu Liu1
1Key Laboratory of Natural Medicine and Immuno-Engineering of Henan Province, Henan International Joint Laboratory of Medicinal Plants Utilization, State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Adaptation and Improvement, School of Life Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Henan University, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
Abstract:
The soluble crude polysaccharides from Dioscorea opposita (DOP1 and DOP2) were prepared and characterized. DOP1 and DOP2 obtained carbohydrate (65.71% and 70.18%, respectively), uronic acid (63.71% and 24.84%, respectively) and protein (8.09% and 9.51%, respectively) with molecular weight of 49.24 kDa and 21.62 kDa, respectively. DOP samples were mainly composed of mannose, glucose, galacturonic acid, galactose, and glucuronic acid. The digestibility in vitro, antioxidant activity and intestinal peristalsis effect were then investigated. DOP1 and DOP2 were degraded with decreased molecular weights (39.58 kDa and 18.56 kDa respectively), increased reducing sugar contents (from 16.95% to 19.27%; 12.45% to 15.50% respectively) and free monosaccharides (from 0.89% to 1.42%; 0.90% to 1.14% respectively) after gastric digestion. Both DOP1 and DOP2 were resistant to intestinal digestion, suggesting that DOP samples can be considered as a dietary fiber. Additionally, DOP1 and DOP2 exhibited antioxidant activities positively correlated with the concentration and remained the activities after gastrointestinal digestion in vitro. Furthermore, DOP reduced the fluorescence intensity significantly, indicating DOP can promote the intestinal peristalsis of zebrafish larvae (5 pdf) at 500 μg/mL. Therefore, DOP1 and DOP2 have a better functionality as dietary fibers, including antioxidant activity and intestinal peristalsis promotion, which can be developed as functional foods.
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