Probiotics supplementation attenuates high cholesterol diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in rat model

Hypercholesterolemia is characterized by elevated total serum cholesterol levels, reflecting a high LDL (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) level, a high TG (triglyceride) level and a low HDL (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) level. Hypercholesterolemia may cause cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke and coronary artery diseases. Nowadays, several drugs like statins that lower serum cholesterol are used to treat hypercholesterolemia. However, the cholesterol-lowering drugs have side effects including liver damage and kidney failure. For these reasons, alternatives like probiotics are expected to attenuate hypercholesterolemia instead. Recent studies have shown that probiotics protect against hypercholesterolemia and liver dysfunction via gut-liver axis. Probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) may modulate gut microbiota, regulate lipid metabolism and lead to alleviate liver disease. This study aims to determine whether LABs have a protective effect on hypercholesterolemia. LAB strains were selected by acid tolerance, bile tolerance, and antibiotic activity through in vitro screening. 6-week SD rats were fed normal diet or high cholesterol diet (HCD) for 7 weeks. Treatment groups were fed HCD with statin and LABs respectively. LAB supplements effectively improved serum lipid profiles. LABs prevented HCD-induced intestinal and liver damage by enhancing tight junction, reducing inflammation. LABs suppressed lipid accumulation in the liver and enhanced the inhibition of the liver toxicity. Also, LAB supplements changed HCD-induced gut microbiota composition and influenced diversity of gut microbiome. The concentration of bile acid and short chain fatty acids in feces were increased by LAB supplements. Thus, results suggest that LABs are potential therapeutic agents for HCD-induced intestine and liver dysfunction. This work is supported by Cellbiotech Co., Ltd. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.