Effect of Sichuan Pickle Lactobacillus on Preventing Non‐Alcoholic Fatty Liver by Regulating Intestinal Function in Mice

Abstract

NAFLD is a kind of liver disease with great harm. It is caused by excessive nutrition that leads to excessive weight gain and overweight. The incidence of NAFLD in obese people is much higher than that in normal weight people. Therefore, weight loss is the first choice for most NAFLD patients. Traditional Sichuan pickle is a kind of food made from pickled vegetables with a certain concentration of salt water, which is mainly fermented by lactic acid, acetic acid and alcohol. Lactic acid bacteria play a key role in its fermentation process. In this study, the NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) model of C57BL/6N mice was established by high‐fat diet, and the effect and mechanism of a Lactobacillus isolated from Sichuan pickle on the prevention of NAFLD by regulating the intestinal function of mice were observed. In this study, 16S rDNA technology was used for microbial identification. After establishing the NAFLD model, the serum, liver, epididymis, small intestine and feces of mice were detected by biochemical and molecular biological methods. The identification results showed that the target strain was a Lactobacillus plantarum strain, named as LactoLactobacillus plantarum CQPC11 (LP‐CQPC11). The in vivo results showed that LP‐CQPC11 could effectively reduce the body weight, liver weight and liver index of NAFLD mice. The results of serum test showed that LP‐CQPC11 could reduce the levels of ALT, AST, AKP, TC, TG, LDL‐C and increase the levels of HDL‐C in the serum of NAFLD mice (model group); meanwhile, LP‐CQPC11 could also reduce the cytokine levels of IL‐1β, IL‐4, IL‐6, IL‐10, TNF‐α and INF‐γ in the serum. The pathological results also showed that LP‐CQPC11 could improve the pathological changes of liver, epididymis and small intestine caused by NAFLD, and protect the body tissues. Further qPCR and Western blot results showed that LP‐CQPC11 could up regulate the mRNA and protein expression of LPL, PPAR‐α, CYP7A1, CPT1 and down regulate the expression of PPAR‐γ, C/EBP‐α in the liver of NAFLD mice; in addition, LP‐CQPC11 could also up regulate the expression of occludin, ZO‐1 and down regulate the expression of CD36, TNF‐α in the small intestine of NAFLD mice. The results showed that LP‐CQPC11 could reduce the level of Firmicutes and improve the level of Bacteroides and Akkermansia in the feces of NAFLD mice. At the same time, LP‐CQPC11 could also reduce the proportion of Firmicutes/Bacteroides and regulate the intestinal microecology. It can be seen that LP‐CQPC11 can improve the intestinal environment of NAFLD mice, so as to prevent NAFLD, and the effect is positively correlated with its dose.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by Research Project of Chongqing University of Education (KY2015TBZC) and Science and Technology Research Project of Chongqing Education Commission (KJZD‐K201901601), China.