IMR Press / JIN / Volume 22 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2204092
Open Access Original Research
Probiotics Improve Cognitive Impairment by Decreasing Bacteria-Related Pattern Recognition Receptor-Mediated Inflammation in the Gut-Brain Axis of Mice
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1 Department of Pharmacy, Guangyuan Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, 628000 Guangyuan, Sichuan, China
2 Department of Pharmacology, Key Laboratory of Drug-Targeting and Drug Delivery System of the Education Ministry, Sichuan Engineering Laboratory for Plant-Sourced Drug and Sichuan Research Center for Drug Precision Industrial Technology, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China
*Correspondence: dujr_1@163.com (Jun-Rong Du); xuzhe_1122@163.com (Zhe Xu)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2023, 22(4), 92; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2204092
Submitted: 25 October 2022 | Revised: 8 December 2022 | Accepted: 15 December 2022 | Published: 7 July 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Introduction: Some studies have found that probiotics can improve cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, although the specific molecular mechanism by which this occurs has not been reported. Our previous research found that probiotics inhibited bacteria-related Toll-like receptor 4- and retinoic-acid-inducible gene-I-mediated nuclear factor-κB signaling pathways to improve cognitive impairment. However, it is unclear whether probiotics have similar effects on other pattern recognition receptors that respond to bacteria. Methods: Nine-month-old senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice received ProBiotic-4 (a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus casei, and Bifidobacterium lactis) orally for 12 weeks. The effects on other bacteria-related pattern recognition receptors were then investigated. Results: ProBiotic-4-treated SAMP8 mice showed improvement in memory deficits, synaptic and cerebral neuronal injuries, and microglial activation. ProBiotic-4 also markedly increased the expression of intestinal tight junction proteins (i.e., claudin-1, occludin, and zonula occluden-1), decreased the expression of interleukin-1β at both the mRNA and protein levels, and reduced the expression of caspase-11, cleaved caspase-1, and α-kinase 1 (ALPK1) in the intestine and brain. Conclusions: These findings suggest that probiotics may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of inflammation in the gut-brain axis and for cognitive impairment. The mechanism of action of probiotics appears to be related to inhibition of the caspase-11/caspase-1 pathway and reduction of ALPK1 expression.

Keywords
gut-brain axis
cognitive impairment
inflammation
caspase 11/caspase 1
α-kinase 1
Funding
81473219/National Natural Science Foundation of China
81973307/National Natural Science Foundation of China
B18035/National Ministry of Education
Figures
Fig. 1.
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