Geniposide alleviated intestinal injury by increasing Prevotella copri abundance and modulating the TRPV4/GPX4-mediated ferroptosis pathway.

Early weaning disrupts intestinal antioxidant capacity and barrier integrity in human infants and young animals. Geniposide, an iridoid glycoside, exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, the mechanism by which geniposide ameliorates weaning-associated intestinal oxidative injury remains to be elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether and how geniposide attenuates intestinal injury, using diquat (DQ)-challenged weaned piglets, mice, and IPEC-J2 cells as experimental models. The results showed that geniposide supplementation significantly alleviated DQ-induced growth inhibition by increasing ADG and ADFI in the piglets. Additionally, geniposide significantly alleviated DQ-induced intestinal barrier damage, as evidenced by increased gene and protein expression of occludin and claudin-1 and decreased intestinal permeability in the ileum. Moreover, geniposide significantly attenuated DQ-induced oxidative stress, as shown by reduced levels of MDA, ROS, and 4-HNE, along with increased activities of T-AOC, GSH-Px, and T-SOD, as well as upregulated protein abundance of NRF2 and GCLM. Microbiome analysis showed that geniposide significantly increased Prevotella copri abundance in the ileum of DQ-challenged piglets. Prevotella copri supplementation alleviated DQ-induced intestinal injury in mice. Transcriptomic and non-targeted metabolomic analyses revealed that geniposide inhibited the DQ-induced ferroptosis signaling pathway. Additionally, geniposide significantly alleviated the DQ-induced the increases in the levels of MDA and Fe2+, and restored expression of the anti-ferroptotic proteins GPX4, SLC7A11, and FTL. Mechanistically, geniposide inhibited DQ-induced intestinal ferroptosis through modulation of the TRPV4/GPX4 pathway and increasing Prevotella copri abundance. Collectively, this study revealed that geniposide alleviated DQ-induced intestinal injury by modulating the TRPV4/GPX4-mediated ferroptosis pathway and increasing Prevotella copri abundance, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic agent against weaning-associated intestinal oxidative damage.