{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,5]],"date-time":"2026-11-05T20:54:09Z","timestamp":1793912049626,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]],"date-time":"2025-12-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766966400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Shanghai Ganya Biotechnology Co., Ltd."}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Foods"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Constipation is a common gastrointestinal disorder that seriously affects quality of life and is associated with multiple secondary complications. Barley leaves (BLs) have been suggested as potential functional foods for constipation prevention. Here, we investigated the preventive effects of common barley leaves (CBLs) and hulless barley leaves (HBLs) in a loperamide-induced constipation model in C57BL\/6 mice. Both BLs improved stool parameters and gastrointestinal transit. Notably, high-dose HBLs increased stool weight to 263.84 \u00b1 66.70 mg and stool amount to 250.20 \u00b1 66.88 pellets, which were 12.7 and 11.1 times higher than those in the model group, respectively. BLs also modulated gut motility-related hormones (MTL, SP, Gas, SS, and VIP) and normalized colonic AQP3, AQP4, and 5-HT4R expression levels. Furthermore, BLs enhanced SCFAs production and modulated gut microbiota by increasing Bacteroides abundance and decreasing Akkermansia abundance. CBLs and HBLs also exhibited distinct mechanisms. High-dose CBLs affected SERT expression, whereas HBLs uniquely decreased Alistipes abundance and increased SCFA production. These findings suggest that BLs may help prevent loperamide-induced constipation in mice by modulating the gut barrier and microbiota. Future studies should identify key active components and validate efficacy in longer-term and clinical studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/foods15010095","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T18:10:51Z","timestamp":1767204651000},"page":"95","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Barley Leaves Improves Loperamide-Induced Constipation via Gut Barrier and Microbiota Modulation in Mice"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Yuting","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food Science & Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiqian","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food Science & Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthew Lee","family":"Cohoon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food Science & Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mengting","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food Science & Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5316-117X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhongquan","family":"Sui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food Science & Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Harold","family":"Corke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou 515063, China"},{"name":"Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1007\/164_2016_111","article-title":"Constipation: Pathophysiology and current therapeutic approaches","volume":"239","author":"Sharma","year":"2016","journal-title":"Gastrointest. 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