Anti-Obesity Effects of <i>Lactobacillus fermentum</i> CQPC05 Isolated from Sichuan Pickle in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice through PPAR-α Signaling Pathway

• Main Authors: Kai Zhu, Fang Tan, Jianfei Mu, Ruokun Yi, Xianrong Zhou, Xin Zhao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-07-01
• Series: Microorganisms
• Subjects: sichuan pickle; anti-obesity effect; PPAR-α signaling pathway; mice; expression
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/7/7/194

Sichuan pickle is a traditional fermented food in China which is produced by the spontaneous fermentation of Chinese cabbage. In this study, the anti-obesity effects of a new lactic acid bacterium (<i>Lactobacillus fermentum</i> CQPC05, LF-CQPC05) isolated from Sichuan pickles were assessed in vivo. An obese animal model was established in mice by inducing obesity with high-fat diet. Both serum and tissues were collected from the mice, and then subjected to qPCR and Western blot analyses. The results showed that LF-CQPC05 could decrease the values of hepatosomatic, epididymal fat, and perirenal fat indices that were induced by a high-fat diet in mice. Moreover, LF-CQPC05 reduced the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and increased the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in both serum samples and liver tissues of obese mice fed with a high-fat diet. Pathological observations demonstrated that LF-CQPC05 could alleviate the obesity-induced pathological changes in the liver tissue of mice, and reduce the degree of adipocyte enlargement. The results of qPCR and Western blot analyses further indicated that LF-CQPC05 upregulated the mRNA and protein expression levels of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), PPAR-&#945;: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPAR-&#945;), (cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase) CYP7A1, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1A), and downregulated the expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-&#947;) and CCAAT enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/EBP-&#945;) in both liver tissue and epididymal adipose tissue. Taken altogether, this study reveals that LF-CQPC05 can effectively inhibit high-fat diet-induced obesity. Its anti-obesity effect is comparable to that of <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">l</span>-carnitine, and is superior to that of <i>Lactobacillus delbrueckii</i> subsp. <i>bulgaricus</i>, a common strain used in the dairy industry. Therefore, LF-CQPC05 is a high-quality microbial strain with probiotic potential.