Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
  • 2 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
  • 3 School of Biological Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
  • 4 USM-RIKEN International Centre for Ageing Science (URICAS), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
  • 5 School of Data Sciences, Perdana University, MARDI Complex, Selangor 43400, Malaysia
Int J Mol Sci, 2020 Aug 16;21(16).
PMID: 32824277 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21165872

Abstract

In this study, we hypothesized that different strains of Lactobacillus can alleviate hyperlipidemia and liver steatosis via activation of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an enzyme that is involved in cellular energy homeostasis, in aged rats. Male rats were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) and injected with D-galactose daily over 12 weeks to induce aging. Treatments included (n = 6) (i) normal diet (ND), (ii) HFD, (iii) HFD-statin (lovastatin 2 mg/kg/day), (iv) HFD-Lactobacillus fermentum DR9 (10 log CFU/day), (v) HFD-Lactobacillus plantarum DR7 (10 log CFU/day), and (vi) HFD-Lactobacillus reuteri 8513d (10 log CFU/day). Rats administered with statin, DR9, and 8513d reduced serum total cholesterol levels after eight weeks (p < 0.05), while the administration of DR7 reduced serum triglycerides level after 12 weeks (p < 0.05) as compared to the HFD control. A more prominent effect was observed from the administration of DR7, where positive effects were observed, ranging from hepatic gene expressions to liver histology as compared to the control (p < 0.05); downregulation of hepatic lipid synthesis and β-oxidation gene stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), upregulation of hepatic sterol excretion genes of ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 5 and 8 (ABCG5 and ABCG8), lesser degree of liver steatosis, and upregulation of hepatic energy metabolisms genes AMPKα1 and AMPKα2. Taken altogether, this study illustrated that the administration of selected Lactobacillus strains led to improved lipid profiles via activation of energy and lipid metabolisms, suggesting the potentials of Lactobacillus as a promising natural intervention for alleviation of cardiovascular and liver diseases.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.