Preventive Effect of Probiotic H40 Against Cognitive Disorder by Anti-Inflammatory, Synaptic Plasticity Regulation, and Antioxidant Effects.

Live H40 has been reported to have probiotic properties; however, the effect of its live probiotic form on cognitive ability has not been reported. This study investigated modulatory effects of the probiotic H40 in an ICR mouse model (male) of cognitive disorders. Cognitive disorders were induced in mice by the addition of scopolamine (1 mg/kg/day) with donepezil (2 mg/kg/day) as a medicinal control. H40 significantly attenuated scopolamine-induced cognitive disorder in the novel object recognition and Y-maze tests in a concentration-dependent manner. H40 decreased amyloid β levels, but increased β-secretase levels. The mRNA expression levels of () and significantly decreased following H40 treatment. Additionally, TNF-α, IL-1β, and PGE2 protein expression was decreased. Acetylcholine, acetylcholinesterase, choline acetyltransferase, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) levels were increased in the brain tissues. The antioxidant effects of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase were also alleviated. We demonstrated that H40 exhibits neuroprotective effects through anti-inflammatory, synaptic plasticity regulation, and antioxidant effects. Thus, the probiotic H40 could be used as a prophylactic functional food for cognitive disorders.