Protective Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum NDC 75017 Against Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Liver Injury in Mice

This study investigated the protective effect of Lactobacillus plantarum NDC 75017 (L. plantarum NDC 75017) against acute liver injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Thirty male mice were randomly divided into the control, LPS, and LPS + L. plantarum NDC 75017 groups. In the LPS + L. plantarum group, the mice were orally pretreated with L. plantarum NDC 75017 for 15 days. At 16 days, the mice in the LPS and LPS + L. plantarum NDC 75017 groups were intraperitoneally injected with LPS at 4 mg/kg body weight, whereas the control mice were treated with an equal amount of saline. After 8 h, the serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and histology changes were examined. The oxidative stress markers and pro-inflammatory cytokines in the liver were also examined. Meanwhile, the expression of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) mRNA and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the liver was determined by qRT-PCR. The LPS group showed an increase in ALT and AST, whereas the LPS + L. plantarum NDC 75017 group showed a significant decrease. In addition, pretreatment with L. plantarum NDC 75017 can attenuate LPS-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory response. Furthermore, the increase of hepatic NF-κB and TLR4 mRNA induced by LPS was significantly downregulated by the pretreatment with L. plantarum NDC 75017. These data show that pretreatment with L. plantarum NDC 75017 protects against LPS-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory injury in the liver of mice, which may be attributed to the inhibition of the TLR4-NF-κB pathway.