Effects of a probiotic suspension Symprove™ on a rat early-stage Parkinson’s disease model

Abstract

An increasing number of studies in recent years have focused on the role that the gut may play in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) pathogenesis, suggesting that the maintenance of a healthy gut may lead to potential treatments of the disease. The health of microbiota has been shown to be directly associated with parameters that play a potential role in PD including gut barrier integrity, immunity, function, metabolism and the correct functioning of the gut-brain axis. The gut microbiota (GM) may therefore be employed as valuable indicators for early diagnosis of PD and potential targets for preventing or treating PD symptoms. Preserving the gut homeostasis using probiotics may therefore lead to a promising treatment strategy due to their known benefits in improving constipation, motor impairments, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of probiotics in PD are yet to be clarified. In this project, we have tested the efficacy of an oral probiotic suspension, Symprove™, on an established animal model of PD. Symprove™, unlike many commercially available probiotics, has been shown to be resistant to gastric acidity, improve symptoms in gastrointestinal diseases and improve gut integrity in an in vitro PD model. In this study, we used an early-stage PD rat model to determine the effect of Symprove™ on neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in the brain and on plasma cytokine levels, GM composition and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) release. Symprove™ was shown to significantly influence both the gut and brain of the PD model. It preserved the gut integrity in the PD model, reduced plasma inflammatory markers and changed microbiota composition. The treatment also prevented the reduction in SCFAs and striatal inflammation and prevented tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cell loss by 17% compared to that observed in animals treated with placebo. We conclude that Symprove™ treatment may have a positive influence on the symptomology of early-stage PD with obvious implications for the improvement of gut integrity and possibly delaying/preventing the onset of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in human PD patients.

Investigação Da Eficácia Do Tratamento Com Probióticos Na Doença De Parkinson

“…Sete desses artigos utilizaram modelos de ratos para avaliar parâmetros relacionados à doença de Parkinson (CHU et al, 2023;FAN et al, 2023;NÁPOLES-MEDINA et al, 2023;PARK et al, 2023;PARRA et al, 2023;SANCANDI et al, 2023;ZHOU et al, 2023). Os modelos parkinsonianos foram obtidos por a indução com as neurotoxinas 6-hidroxipropamina ou rotenona.…”

“…Entre os estudos em modelos animais, três trabalhos avaliaram sintomas motores (CHU et al, 2023;LEE et al, 2023;PARRA et al, 2023), observando melhora com o tratamento com probioticos. Os demais avaliaram parâmetros histológicos e bioquímicos para investigar a ação neuroprotetora, sendo a redução da neuroinflamação a ação mais frequentemente relatada (CHU et al, 2023;FAN et al, 2023;LEE et al, 2023;PARRA et al, 2023;SANCANDI et al, 2023;ZHOU et al, 2023), seguida de redução de perda neuronal (CHU et al, 2023;FAN et al, 2023;LEE et al, 2023;NÁPOLES-MEDINA et al, 2023;ZHOU et al, 2023); também foi relatado um aumento na produção de ácidos graxos de cadeia curta (SANCANDI et al, 2023).…”

The Effect of Gut Microbiota-Targeted Interventions on Neuroinflammation and Motor Function in Parkinson’s Disease Animal Models—A Systematic Review

“…One study that met the inclusion criteria due to the high risk of bias was excluded since the number of animals per research group was unclear. The reported results were, in some cases, for more significant numbers of animals, implying incomplete outcome data, reporting biases, and a possible lack of blinding and selection biases [103].…”

Gut-Modulating Agents and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives

“…Moreover, the combination significantly attenuated age-related disruption of the blood–brain barrier, and it also reduced cerebral neuronal and synaptic injuries [ 92 ]. Sancandi et al [ 93 ] reported that Symprove™, a commercially available probiotic suspension comprised of another four bacterial strains, restored gut integrity, improved SCFA production, and prevented striatal neuroinflammation in an early stage PD rat model.…”