Oral administration of probiotic bacteria,Lactobacillus caseiandBifidobacterium breve, does not exacerbate neurological symptoms in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Abstract

To evaluate the safety of two probiotic bacterial strains, Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) and Bifidobacterium breve strain Yakult (BbY), these probiotics were orally administered to Lewis rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the experimental model of human multiple sclerosis. We examined three experimental designs by combining different antigen types and probiotic administration periods: (1) EAE was induced with a homogenate of guinea pig spinal cord as the sensitizing antigen, and LcS was orally administered from one week before this sensitization until the end of the experiment; (2) EAE was induced using guinea pig originated myelin basic protein (MBP) as the sensitizing antigen, and LcS was orally administered from one week before this sensitization to the end of the experiment; (3) EAE was induced using guinea pig MBP as the sensitizing antigen, and the probiotic strains (LcS and BbY) were administered starting in infancy (two weeks old) and continued until the end of the experiment. In experiment 1, oral administration of LcS tended to suppress the development of neurological symptoms. Differences in neurological symptoms between the control group and the administration groups did not reach statistical significance in experiments 2 and 3. These results support the notion that neither LcS nor BbY exacerbates autoimmune disease.

Probiotics for Autoimmune Diseases: Is There a Benefit?

“…Differences in neurological symptoms between the control group and the administration groups did not reach statistical significance in experiments 2 and 3. As a result, these findings support the notion that neither LcS nor BbY exacerbates AD [56].…”

Lactobacillus plantarum strain YU from fermented foods activates Th1 and protective immune responses

“…Further study is needed to address whether this is also the case for LpYU. Although there are concerns that constitutive Th1 activation results in autoimmune diseases, previous reports revealed that oral administration of probiotic LAB did not induce the pathological inflammation in murine models [49,50]. Therefore, besides activation of Th1 immune responses, probiotic LAB might induce the other regulatory responses.…”

The role of microbiome in central nervous system disorders

“…This has been corroborated by other studies using probiotic mixtures of strains under the Lactobacillus genus. Indeed, Lactobacilli (including LcS), either administrated alone or in combination with other strains of Bifidobacterium genus, tend to alleviate murine EAE symptoms via reciprocal regulation of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine responses(Kobayashi et al, 2010; Kobayashi et al, 2012; Kwon et al, 2013; Lavasani et al, 2010). Probiotic treatment with B. fragilis and Pediococcus acidilactici (strain R037) also significantly reduced mice susceptibility to EAE(Ochoa-Reparaz et al, 2010a; Takata et al, 2011).…”