Alonazi Mona, Ben Bacha Abir, Alharbi Mona G, Khayyat Arwa Ishaq A, Al-Ayadhi Laila, El-Ansary Afaf
Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, Riyadh 11495, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2925, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
Metabolites. 2023 Apr 12;13(4):548. doi: 10.3390/metabo13040548.
Rodent models may help investigations on the possible link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and gut microbiota since autistic patients frequently manifested gastrointestinal troubles as co-morbidities. Thirty young male rats were divided into five groups: Group 1 serves as control; Group 2, bee pollen and probiotic-treated; and Group 3, propionic acid (PPA)-induced rodent model of autism; Group 4 and Group 5, the protective and therapeutic groups were given bee pollen and probiotic combination treatment either before or after the neurotoxic dose of PPA, respectively. Serum occludin, zonulin, lipid peroxides (MDA), glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), catalase, and gut microbial composition were assessed in all investigated groups. Recorded data clearly indicated the marked elevation in serum occludin (1.23 ± 0.15 ng/mL) and zonulin (1.91 ± 0.13 ng/mL) levels as potent biomarkers of leaky gut in the PPA- treated rats while both were normalized to bee pollen/probiotic-treated rats. Similarly, the high significant decrease in catalase (3.55 ± 0.34 U/dL), GSH (39.68 ± 3.72 µg/mL), GST (29.85 ± 2.18 U/mL), and GPX (13.39 ± 1.54 U/mL) concomitant with a highly significant increase in MDA (3.41 ± 0.12 µmoles/mL) as a marker of oxidative stress was also observed in PPA-treated animals. Interestingly, combined bee pollen/probiotic treatments demonstrated remarkable amelioration of the five studied oxidative stress variables as well as the fecal microbial composition. Overall, our findings demonstrated a new approach to the beneficial use of bee pollen and probiotic combination as a therapeutic intervention strategy to relieve neurotoxic effects of PPA, a short-chain fatty acid linked to the pathoetiology of autism.
啮齿动物模型可能有助于研究自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）与肠道微生物群之间的潜在联系，因为自闭症患者经常表现出胃肠道问题作为共病。30只年轻雄性大鼠被分为五组：第1组作为对照组；第2组，给予蜂花粉和益生菌治疗；第3组，丙酸（PPA）诱导的啮齿动物自闭症模型；第4组和第5组，保护组和治疗组分别在给予神经毒性剂量的PPA之前或之后给予蜂花粉和益生菌联合治疗。在所有研究组中评估血清闭合蛋白、zonulin、脂质过氧化物（MDA）、谷胱甘肽（GSH）、谷胱甘肽-S-转移酶（GST）、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GPX）、过氧化氢酶和肠道微生物组成。记录的数据清楚地表明，在接受PPA治疗的大鼠中，血清闭合蛋白（1.23±0.15 ng/mL）和zonulin（1.91±0.13 ng/mL）水平显著升高，这是肠道渗漏的有效生物标志物，而在接受蜂花粉/益生菌治疗的大鼠中，两者均恢复正常。同样，在接受PPA治疗的动物中也观察到过氧化氢酶（3.55±0.34 U/dL）、GSH（39.68±3.72 µg/mL）、GST（29.85±2.18 U/mL）和GPX（13.39±1.54 U/mL）显著降低，同时MDA（3.41±0.12 µmoles/mL）作为氧化应激标志物显著升高。有趣的是，蜂花粉/益生菌联合治疗显著改善了所研究的五个氧化应激变量以及粪便微生物组成。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明了一种新的方法，即有益地使用蜂花粉和益生菌联合作为一种治疗干预策略，以减轻PPA的神经毒性作用，PPA是一种与自闭症病理病因相关的短链脂肪酸。
