Abstract
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a liver disease caused by long-term heavy drinking, which is characterized by increased inflammation and oxidative stress in the liver and gut dysbiosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of administering ordinary and probiotic- (containing the Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis Probio-M8 strain; M8) fermented milk to rats. Several biochemical parameters and the fecal metagenomes were monitored before (d 0) and after (d 42) the intervention. Our results confirmed that alcohol could cause significant changes in the liver levels of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β, antioxidation indicators, and liver function-related indicators; meanwhile, the gut bacterial and viral microbiota were disrupted with significant reduction in microbial diversity and richness. Feeding the rats with Probio-M8-fermented milk effectively maintained the gut microbiota stability, reduced liver inflammation and oxidative stress, and mitigated liver damages in ALD. Moreover, the Probio-M8-fermented milk reversed alcohol-induced dysbiosis by restoring the gut microbiota diversity, richness, and composition. Four predicted fecal metabolites (inositol, tryptophan, cortisol, and vitamin K2) increased after the intervention, which might help regulate liver metabolism and alleviate ALD-related symptoms. In short, our data supported that consuming Probio-M8-fermented milk effectively mitigated ALD. The protective effect against ALD could be related to changes in the gut microbiome after probiotic-fermented milk consumption. However, such observation and the causal relationship among probiotic milk consumption, changes in gut microbiome, and disease alleviation would still need to be further confirmed. Nevertheless, this study has shown in a rat model that consuming probiotic-fermented milk could protect against ALD.
Highlights
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is considered to be one of the leading causes of liver cirrhosis and liver-related death all over the world (Louvet and Mathurin, 2015)
The BW of rats receiving the Lieber-DeCarli diet or the Lieber-DeCarli diet plus fermented milk with or without probiotic supplementation did not show an obvious increasing trend throughout the trial period (BW ranged from 432.07 ± 31.55 to 463.18 ± 37.94 g), and no significant difference was observed in the BW among the 3 Lieber-DeCarli diet–receiving groups
The liver levels of total bile acid (TBA), alanine transaminase (ALT), and total bilirubin (TBIL) were significantly lower in the C group than the M group and fermented milk– receivers (P < 0.05)
Summary
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is considered to be one of the leading causes of liver cirrhosis and liver-related death all over the world (Louvet and Mathurin, 2015). Alcohol intake was found to disrupt colonic homeostasis and cause gut dysbiosis (Dubinkina et al, 2017; Wang et al, 2020) It can damage the shielding function and the integrity of the gastrointestinal tract (Li et al, 2021). It was reported that daily yogurt consumption reduced liver steatosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (Bakhshimoghaddam et al, 2018) It might play a role in liver protection. This study hypothesized that the intake of probioticfermented milk (versus ordinary fermented milk without exogenous supplementation of probiotic bacteria) could confer added beneficial effects in protecting against ALD via influencing the host-gut microbiota. This study confirmed the beneficial effects of Probio-M8 in protecting the liver function and maintaining the stability of gut bacteriophage diversity in rats fed a diet with alcohol
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