Bifidobacterium bifidum relieved DSS-induced colitis in mice potentially by activating the aryl hydrocarbon receptor

• Published in: Food & function 2022-05, Vol.13 (9), p.5115-5123
• Main Authors: Cui, Qing-Yu, Tian, Xiao-Ying, Liang, Xi, Zhang, Zhe, Wang, Rui, Zhou, Yu, Yi, Hua-Xi, Gong, Pi-Min, Lin, Kai, Liu, Tong-Jie, Zhang, Lan-Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal tissues; Animals; Aromatic compounds; Bifidobacterium bifidum; Bifidobacterium bifidum - metabolism; Body weight; Body weight loss; Caco-2 Cells; Cell differentiation; Colitis; Colitis - chemically induced; Colitis - genetics; Colitis - therapy; Colon; Colon - metabolism; Dextran; Dextran sulfate; Dextran Sulfate - adverse effects; Dextrans; Disease Models, Animal; Disruption; Electrical resistivity; Humans; Hydrocarbons; IL-1β; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - metabolism; Interleukin 6; Interleukin-6 - genetics; Interleukin-6 - metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism; Intestine; Lipopolysaccharides; Lipopolysaccharides - adverse effects; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Monolayers; Mucin; Nitric oxide; Probiotics; Receptors; Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon - genetics; Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon - metabolism; Strains (organisms); Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - genetics; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - metabolism; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Weight loss; Zonula occludens-1 protein
• ISSN: 2042-6496; 2042-650X
• DOI: 10.1039/d1fo04219j

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) characterized by relapsed intestinal inflammation and barrier function disruption is still a great therapeutic challenge. This study aimed to screen probiotics that have the potential to help alleviate IBD and further elucidate their mechanism of action. Caco-2 cell differentiated monolayers and RAW264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used for probiotic screening , and then the efficacies of the obtained six bacterial strains were evaluated in mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. The results showed that all of the strains at varying degrees could increase the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) value, decrease the influx of FITC-dextran in Caco-2 cell monolayers and attenuate the production of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. experiments indicated that FL-276.1 (FL-276.1) and FL-228.1 (FL-228.1) showed the best efficacies to ameliorate body weight loss, colon shortening, and intestinal barrier disruption. Accordingly, in FL-276.1 and FL-228.1 groups, the genes of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), claudin-4, occludin and mucin 2 (Muc2) in mouse colonic tissues were significantly upregulated, while TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 were downregulated. Further results showed that strains FL-276.1 and FL-228.1 could activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in the intestine. Our study showed that the two strains, FL-276.1 and FL-228.1, ameliorated DSS-induced colitis by enhancing the intestinal barrier and anti-inflammation potentially the AhR pathway.