In vitro fermentation of the polysaccharides from Cyclocarya paliurus leaves by human fecal inoculums

In vitro fermentation of polysaccharide from Cyclocarya paliurus leaves by human fecal inoculums was investigated by determining the changes in contents of neutral and reducing sugar and pH value, consumption of monosaccharide and production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). During fermentation, the content of neutral sugar and reducing sugar decreased as fermentation time increased except that the content of reducing sugar increased within the fermentation time 0.5 h. The pH value significantly dropped from 7.2 to 6.04. Remarkably, the greatest yields and the fastest consumption of galacturonic acid were found and the yield of glucose and arabinose were relatively high. The dominant SCFAs, which were acetic acid, propionic acid and n-butyric acid, significantly increased. These results showed that polysaccharide was partly fermented, glycosidic bonds with galacturonic acid being more susceptible to be attacked by gut bacteria and galacturonic acid might be deemed as the main producer of acetic acid.