The Potential Role of Intestinal Microbiota on the Intestine-Protective and Lipid-Lowering Effects of Berberine in Zebrafish () Under High-Lipid Stress.

Berberine has extremely low oral bioavailability, but shows a potent lipid-lowering effect, indicating its potential role in regulating intestinal microbiota, which has not been investigated. In the present study, five experimental diets, a control diet (Con), a high-lipid diet (HL), and high-lipid·diets·supplemented with an antibiotic cocktail (HLA), berberine (HLB), or both (HLAB) were fed to zebrafish () for 30 days. The HLB group showed significantly greater weight gain and feed intake than the HLA and other groups, respectively ( < 0.