Probiotic pretreatment with lactobacillus helveticus r0052 and bifidobacterium longum r0175 alleviates neuronal apoptosis in rat model of lipopolysaccharide

Ghazaleh Mohammadi,1,* Marjan nassiri-asl ,2 Taghi naserpour ,3 Leila dargahi ,4 Amir peymani ,5

1. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Department of Molecular Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Scienc
2. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Department of Pharmacology, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences
3. Medical Microbiology Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences
4. NeuroBiology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
5. Medical Microbiology Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction

The beneficial effects of probiotics on modulation of host health in various conditions from gastrointestinal and systemic dysfunctions to neurological disorders have been documented. but, recently, probiotic biotherapy with lactobacillus and bifidobacteria seems to be a promising and feasible approach to improve neuronal pathways related to neurodegenerative diseases via the gut-brain axis. apoptosis has been reported as an important pathway in several neurodegenerative disorders. thus, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of gut microbiota manipulation with probiotic (l. helveticus r0052 + b. longum r0175) on the expression levels of hippocampal proteins critical to apoptosis in lipopolysaccharide (lps)-induced rat model.

Methods

Four groups of animals were administrated orally by placebo or probiotic (109 cfu/ml/rat) for 2 weeks. after a single dose of saline or lps, the expression levels of apoptotic proteins were assessed in hippocampus region by western blotting.

Results

Prophylactic administration of combined l. helveticus r0052 and b. longum r0175 significantly reduced lps- induced apoptosis by lowering the expression of bax and cleaved caspase-3, while increasing the level of anti-apoptotic bcl-2 protein and procaspase-3 in hippocampal rats.

Conclusion

These results suggest that oral bacteriotherapy with this probiotic has neuroprotective effect on brain function and can be used to alleviate neuronal apoptosis in some neurodegenerative diseases including alzheimer ’disease. in addition, gut microbiota manipulation with specific probiotics could be a potential strategy for the application of beneficial bacteria to improve nutritional function and medical health.

Keywords

Probiotic, neuronal apoptosis, lipopolysaccharide