Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.)Jul 6, 2026

Butyrate from Lycium ruthenicum polysaccharide reduces chronic fatigue from sleep loss in mice by boosting brain immune cell cleanup

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jul 7, 2026

Abstract

Oral Lycium ruthenicum polysaccharide (LRP) was associated with improved fatigue-related behavioral performance in a mouse model.

LRP treatment resulted in reduced neuronal injury and enhanced cognitive and motor outcomes.
There was an increase in the abundance of bacteria that produce butyrate, along with higher butyrate levels in serum and brain.
Sodium butyrate reduced inflammatory activation in cultured microglia while improving measures of mitochondrial stress and cellular cleanup.
The findings suggest that changes in microbiota-derived butyrate may play a role in the benefits observed with LRP.

Simplified

This study explored whether Lycium ruthenicum polysaccharide (LRP) influences gut microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and neuroinflammatory responses in a sleep deprivation-induced CFS-like mouse model. Oral LRP was associated with improved fatigue-related behavioral performance, reduced neuronal injury, and better cognitive and motor outcomes. These changes coincided with an increased abundance of putative butyrate-producing bacteria and higher butyrate levels in serum and brain. To examine a possible downstream link, sodium butyrate was tested in cultured microglia and attenuated inflammatory activation while improving mitochondrial stress and autophagy-related readouts. Overall, the data suggest that microbiota-associated butyrate changes may contribute to the observed benefits of LRP, supporting its potential as a food-derived strategy for fatigue-related neuroinflammation.

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Funding

Competing interests

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Yanan Sun and Yixuan Li reports financial support was provided by Food Laboratory of Zhongyuan Major Innovation Project of Henan Province (241110110100). If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships within three years of beginning the submitted work thatcould inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

PubMed

Butyrate from Lycium ruthenicum polysaccharide reduces chronic fatigue from sleep loss in mice by boosting brain immune cell cleanup

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

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