Protective efficacy of probiotic alone or in conjunction with a prebiotic in Salmonella-induced liver damage

摘要

In view of the increasing interest in the bioecological and nutritional control ofdiseases, use of probiotics alone or in combination with prebiotics (synbiotics)appears as a therapeutic option for various diseases. In this study, an attempt wasmade to explore the protective potential of Lactobacillus acidophilus as a probiotic,inulin as a prebiotic and both L. acidophilus and inulin as synbiotic againstSalmonella-induced liver damage in a murine model. The probiotic, prebiotic andsynbiotic supplementation resulted in decreased bacterial translocation in the liverof mice challenged with Salmonella typhimurium and decreased levels of serumaminotransferases, suggesting their protective role against Salmonella infection.Mice supplemented with these preparations before Salmonella challenge alsorevealed decreased levels of lipid peroxidation, increased levels of superoxidedismutase and glutathione, along with reduced levels of nitric oxide. Thus,bacteriological and biochemical alterations correlated well with the histologicalevidence. Protection afforded by supplementation with the probiotic alone wasfound to be more effective. None of the observations was suggestive of the synergisticeffect in the synbiotic-supplemented animals. Thus, it is indicated that the probioticand the prebiotic used in the present study may act by different mechanismsinvolved in affording protection against Salmonella-induced liver damage.