<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" class="first" dir="auto"
id="d1012916e99">Chlorophyll can be obtained from a variety of green vegetables. In
this study, chlorophyll-rich
spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) extracts were subjected to early-life and adult-life
gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation in a murine model in vitro to
investigate the biological transformation of the chlorophyll. Chlorophylls a and b
were the main compounds present in the extracts. Furthermore, some other compounds
were also confirmed, such as 151-hydroxy-lactone chlorophyll a, 132-hydroxy chlorophyll
a, and 151-hydroxy-lactone chlorophyll b. Chlorophylls favored pheophytinization and
oxidative reactions under in vitro early-life and adult-life gastrointestinal digestion,
leading to the formation of pheophytin a, pheophytin b, 132-hydroxy pheophytin a,
and 151-hydroxy-lactone pheophytin a. 16S rRNA gene sequencing conveyed that pheophytins
modulated the gut microbiota composition during in vitro colonic fermentation. Notably,
Blautia in the gut microbiota of 3-week-old mice (early life) and unclassified Lachnospiraceae
in 8-week-old mice (adult life) were advantageous for transforming the pheophytins
to pheophorbide a, pheophorbide b, 151-hydroxy-lactone pheophorbide a, and 132-hydroxy
pheophorbide a, thereby demonstrating the loss of the phytol chain in the pheophytins.
Meanwhile, total short-chain fatty acids, as well as acetic, propionic, and butyric
acids, were increased by the process of microbial fermentation in the presence of
pheophytins. Our study provides fundamental insight into the contribution of diverse
gut microbiota functions toward the biological transformation of pheophytins.
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