title: Protective efficacy of probiotic alone or in conjunction with a prebiotic in Salmonella-induced liver damage.
abstract: In view of the increasing interest in the bioecological and nutritional control of diseases, use of probiotics alone or in combination with prebiotics (synbiotics) appears as a therapeutic option for various diseases. In this study, an attempt was made to explore the protective potential of Lactobacillus acidophilus as a probiotic, inulin as a prebiotic and both L. acidophilus and inulin as synbiotic against Salmonella-induced liver damage in a murine model. The probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic supplementation resulted in decreased bacterial translocation in the liver of mice challenged with Salmonella typhimurium and decreased levels of serum aminotransferases, suggesting their protective role against Salmonella infection. Mice supplemented with these preparations before Salmonella challenge also revealed decreased levels of lipid peroxidation, increased levels of superoxide dismutase and glutathione, along with reduced levels of nitric oxide. Thus, bacteriological and biochemical alterations correlated well with the histological evidence. Protection afforded by supplementation with the probiotic alone was found to be more effective. None of the observations was suggestive of the synergistic effect in the synbiotic-supplemented animals. Thus, it is indicated that the probiotic and the prebiotic used in the present study may act by different mechanisms involved in affording protection against Salmonella-induced liver damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. rishipraveen@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rishi
authors.forename: Swapandeep Kaur
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mavi
authors.forename: Sushma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bharrhan
authors.forename: Geeta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Rupinder
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tewari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018988:Bacterial Translocation; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D007444:Inulin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007779:Lactobacillus acidophilus; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000502:physiology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D000637:Transaminases / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D007444:Inulin; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D000637:Transaminases; D005978:Glutathione