Lactobacillus plantarum and Bifidobacterium longum Alleviate Liver Injury and Fibrosis in Mice by Regulating NF-κB and AMPK Signaling

, TNF-α, and IL-6 expression and NF-κB-positive cell population in LPS-treated mice. Furthermore, they increased AMPKa phosphorylation in the liver and colon. However, Ec increased the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in blood, liver, and colon. The suppression of LPS-stimulated ALT and AST secretion in HepG2 cells by LBPs was positively correlated with their ameliorating effects on LPS-induced blood γGTP, ALT, and AST levels and liver αSMA and collagen-1 expression in mice. Based on these findings, LC27 and LC67 may improve liver injury and fibrosis by regulating NF-κB and AMPK signaling pathway and a protocol that can assay the inhibitory activity of LBPs on LPS-induced ALT and AST secretion in HepG2 may be useful for guessing their antihepatitic effects in the in vivo experiments.