Better Efficacy of Lactobacillus casei in Combination with Bifidobacterium bifidum or Saccharomyces boulardiiin Recovery of Inflammatory Markers of Colitis in Rat

摘要

Alteration of intestinal microflora has an important role in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and probiotics by balancing microflora and modulating inflammatory cytokines seem effective in management of IBD. In the present study, two combinations of probiotics Lactobacillus casei (L. casei) plus Bifidobacterium bifidum (B. bifidum) or plus Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii) were tested for their potential to prevent or treat experimental colitis in rats. Nine groups of animals including sham (normal group), control (vehicle-treated), dexamethasone as standard, treatment groups (oral administration of L. casei and mixture of (Z. casei-B. bifidum and L. casei-S. boulardii after induction of colitis) and prevention groups (oral administrations of Z. casei and mixture of (Z. casei-B. bifidum and Z. casei-S. boulardii before induction of colitis) were used. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and lipid peroxidation (LPO) were determined in all groups. In treatment groups,histological scores and TNF-alpha, MPO and LPO levels attenuated significantly but colonic lesions in the prevention groups did not recover. The results revealed that, combination of Z. casei-B. bifidum and L. casei-S. boulardii alleviated inflammatory parameters in colitis but these combinations were ineffective to prevent colitis. In addition, we found that mixture of probiotics is significantly more effective than Z. casei group in improving barrier function of epithelium in experimental colitis model.