Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Center for Biomedical Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 26;11(1):2269. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-81871-8.
Chronic liver disease leads to neuropsychiatric complications called hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Current treatments have some limitations in their efficacy and tolerability, emphasizing the need for alternative therapies. Modulation of gut bacterial flora using probiotics is emerging as a therapeutic alternative. However, knowledge about how probiotics influence brain metabolite changes during HE is missing. In the present study, we combined the advantages of ultra-high field in vivo H MRS with behavioural tests to analyse whether a long-term treatment with a multistrain probiotic mixture (VIVOMIXX) in a rat model of type C HE had a positive effect on behaviour and neurometabolic changes. We showed that the prophylactic administration of this probiotic formulation led to an increase in gut Bifidobacteria and attenuated changes in locomotor activity and neurometabolic profile in a rat model of type C HE. Both the performance in behavioural tests and the neurometabolic profile of BDL + probiotic rats were improved compared to the BDL group at week 8 post-BDL. They displayed a significantly lesser increase in brain Gln, a milder decrease in brain mIns and a smaller decrease in neurotransmitter Glu than untreated animals. The clinical implications of these findings are potentially far-reaching given that probiotics are generally safe and well-tolerated by patients.
慢性肝脏疾病会导致神经精神并发症，称为肝性脑病（HE）。目前的治疗方法在疗效和耐受性方面存在一些局限性，这强调了需要替代疗法。使用益生菌来调节肠道细菌群落正成为一种治疗选择。然而，关于益生菌如何影响 HE 期间大脑代谢物变化的知识还很缺乏。在本研究中，我们结合了超高场体内 H MRS 的优势，并结合行为测试，分析了在 C 型 HE 大鼠模型中长期使用多菌株益生菌混合物（VIVOMIXX）治疗是否对行为和神经代谢变化有积极影响。我们发现，这种益生菌配方的预防性给药可增加肠道双歧杆菌，并减轻 C 型 HE 大鼠运动活动和神经代谢特征的变化。与 BDL 组相比，BDL+益生菌组在 BDL 后 8 周时的行为测试表现和神经代谢特征均有所改善。与未治疗的动物相比，它们的脑 Gln 增加幅度显著较小，脑 mIns 减少程度较轻，神经递质 Glu 减少程度较小。鉴于益生菌通常对患者安全且耐受良好，这些发现的临床意义可能具有深远意义。
