Abstract
Age-related chronic inflammation is a major risk factor for the incidence and prevalence of age-related diseases, including infectious and neurodegenerative diseases. We previously reported that a lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus paracasei KW3110, activated macrophages and suppressed inflammation in mice and humans. In this study, we investigated whether long-term intake of heat-killed L. paracasei KW3110 modulated age-related inflammation and altered the gut microbiota in physiologically aged mice. Compared with age-matched control mice, fecal analyses of gut microbiota revealed that intake of L. paracasei KW3110 mitigated age-related changes of beneficial bacterial composition, including the Bifidobacteriaceae family. L. paracasei KW3110 intake also mitigated age-related immune defects by reducing the prevalence of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) -producing inflammatory CD4-positive T cells in the lamina propia of the small intestine, and reduced serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, L. paracasei KW3110 intake suppressed retinal inflammation by reducing proinflammatory cytokine-producing macrophage, and age-related retinal cell loss. Taken together, these findings suggested that L. paracasei KW3110 mitigated age-related chronic inflammation through modulation of gut microbiota composition and immune system functions in aged mice, and also reduced age-related retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effect in age-related senescent changes of the retina.
Highlights
Aging involves a progressive decline of physiological functions in various organs, influenced by several factors, including genetic factors and environmental factors [1,2,3]
L. paracasei KW3110 intake suppressed retinal inflammation by reducing proinflammatory cytokine‐producing macrophage, and age‐related retinal cell loss. These findings suggested that L. paracasei KW3110 mitigated age‐related chronic inflammation through modulation of gut microbiota composition and immune system functions in aged mice, and reduced age‐related retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss
We demonstrated that long-term intake of heat-killed L. paracasei KW3110 in aged mice significantly enhanced the population of beneficial gut bacteria, of the Bifidobacterium family, and slowed the age-related immune dysfunctions, expansion of the inflammatory IFN-γ-producing CD4-positive T cells in SI-LP, and lowered the serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines
Summary
Aging involves a progressive decline of physiological functions in various organs, influenced by several factors, including genetic factors and environmental factors [1,2,3]. Among the features of aging, the decline in immune function has been widely examined, because it results in chronic low grade inflammation, which is a major risk factor for the incidence and prevalence of age-related diseases, including infectious diseases, tumors, and neurodegenerative diseases [4,5,6,7,8]. Age-related retinal neurodegenerative diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), are major causes of blindness in the elderly [9,10,11,12]. The disease is caused by age-related retinal cell loss, including retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death [13] and photoreceptor cell death [14, 15], at least partly due to chronic inflammation [16,17,18,19]. Human eyes are exposed to daily chronic stress, such as photo-oxidative stress, and as a result, safe and longterm approaches based on diet to mitigate retinal chronic inflammation are especially attractive
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