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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Microbes
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1421007
This article is part of the Research Topic Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Postbiotics on Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis View all articles

Bifidobacterium pseudonumeratum W112 alleviated depressive and liver injury symptoms induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress via gut-liver-brain axis

Provisionally accepted
Jingqi Zhao Jingqi Zhao 1,2Shanshan Liu Shanshan Liu 1Yihua Zhang Yihua Zhang 1Langni Deng Langni Deng 1Yajing Pan Yajing Pan 1Xiaojia Bai Xiaojia Bai 1Longgang Jia Longgang Jia 1Yanping Wang Yanping Wang 1Weitao Geng Weitao Geng 1*
  • 1 Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Lifeomics and Innovative Drug Research and Development, Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Several studies indicated that depression is associated with liver injury. The role of probiotics in alleviating depression is focused on improving the abnormalities of the central nervous system through the gut-brain axis, while the effect on liver injury is still unclear. The aim of this study was to elucidate the potential link between the antidepressant effect of a potential probiotic strain Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum W112 and its effect on alleviating liver injury. The 4-week-old Kunming mice were exposed to chronic stress for 4 weeks to establish a depression model. The depression-like behavior and related biomakers in chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mice were altered by supplemented with W112 for 2 weeks. Meanwhile, the modulation effect of W112 the gut microbiota in CUMS mice also result in an increase in the abundance of beneficial bacteria and a decrease in the abundance of harmful bacteria. Significantly, liver injury was observed in CUMS model mice. W112 improved liver injury by reducing AST/ALT in serum. Quantitative PCR results indicated that the mechanism of action of W112 in ameliorating liver injury was that the altered gut microbiota affected hepatic phospholipid metabolism and bile acid metabolism. In short, W112 could significantly improve the depressive and liver injury symptoms caused by CUMS. The gut-liver-brain axis is a potential connecting pathway between the antidepressant effects of W112 and its alleviation of liver injury.-This study elucidates that the gut liver brain axis is a potential connecting pathway between the antidepressant effect of W112 and its reduction of liver injury; -Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum W112 isolated from healthy infant feces can alleviate depression caused by CUMS by optimizing the composition of gut microbiota; -W112 can promote the normalization of neuroendocrine activity by regulating the content of relevant biomarkers in CUMS mice, which indicateed that W112 has an antidepressant function; -W112 could alleviate CUMS induced liver injury by regulting phospholipid metabolism and bile acid metabolism.

    Keywords: Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, Depression, Gut Microbiota, liver injury, Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)

    Received: 21 Apr 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhao, Liu, Zhang, Deng, Pan, Bai, Jia, Wang and Geng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Weitao Geng, Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China

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