Impact of Lactobacillus acidophilus and inulin on the liver disease of an obese murine model.

BACKGROUND

Obesity, meaning an overweight problem, can be considered an epidemic disease that is strongly related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Clinical studies indicate that the consumption of probiotics and prebiotics modulates the intestinal microbiota, promoting weight loss, decreasing adipose tissue and proinflammatory factors. The aim of the study was to analyze the response of the liver (transcriptomic and histology) to a dietary supplementation with probiotics and prebiotics of a murine model.

METHODS

We evaluated the liver transcriptome using an obese murine model (C57BLACK6) by inducing obesity with a high-fat diet for 8 weeks followed by synbiotic supplements in a normocaloric diet for another 8 weeks. Pool screening analysis (5 samples) was completed using a synthesis of cDNA. The transcriptome was analyzed by DNA microarrays hybridizing on 22,000 mouse genes. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed under 3 hybridization processes with the aid of GenArise software using the z-score value. As a result of transcriptome analysis, fatty acid-binding genes (Cyp7a1 and Acox2) were selected to analyze the liver response, molecular and histologically.

RESULTS

The transcriptome analysis results indicate 1.26% overexpression and a 2.2% average repression in relation to the hybridized genome; DEGs allow us to identify genes associated with fatty acid metabolism. The synbiotic treatment increases the expression of Cyp7a1 and Acox2 significantly (P<0.05) in correlation with a decrease in the histological level of accumulated fat in the tissue.

CONCLUSIONS

The synbiotic could be an adjuvant treatment to obesity and NAFLD as it can increase the production of bile acids coming from the classical pathway which promotes the absorption of ectopically accumulated lipids thus reducing the development of NAFLD at histological and molecular level.