Selenium enrichment enhances the alleviating effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG on alcoholic liver injury in mice
Ziyi Yang, Jingyu Lian, Yuheng Yang, Jiayi Li, Weiling Guo, Xu‐Cong Lv, Li Ni, Youting Chen
Abstract
Selenium-enriched probiotics have attracted much attention due to the physiological activities of both probiotics and selenium (organic selenium). In this study, we investigated the mitigating effect of selenium-enriched Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG@Se) and its pathway on alcohol-induced liver injury (ALI) in mice. The results showed that LGG@Se was superior to LGG and sodium selenite in alleviating ALI. Oral LGG@Se effectively prevented lipid metabolism disorders and liver oxidative damage in mice caused by excessive alcohol intake. 16S amplicon sequencing showed that LGG@Se intervention increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria and suppressed the growth of harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract of over-drinking mice, and thus effectively modulated the homeostasis of intestinal flora, which were highly correlated with the improvement of liver function. Liver metabolomics analysis indicated that LGG@Se intervention altered liver metabolic profiling, and the characteristic biomarkers were mainly involved in amino acid metabolism, including alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, etc . In addition, LGG@Se intervention modulated the expression of genes and proteins related to lipid metabolism and oxidative stress in liver of over-drinking mice. Western blot analysis revealed that LGG@Se intervention up-regulated the expression of intestinal barrier function-related proteins, thereby ameliorating alcohol-induced intestinal barrier damage. Collectively, these findings provide scientific evidence that LGG@Se possesses the biological activity of improving alcohol-induced lipid metabolism and intestinal microbiota disorder. • Selenium enrichment enhances hepatoprotective effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. • Selenium-enriched Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG prevents lipid metabolism disorder. • Selenium-enriched Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG prevents liver oxidative stress damage. • Selenium-enriched Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG alters intestinal microbiota. • Selenium-enriched Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG ameliorates intestinal barrier damage.