Scientific reports
Authors:
Fatemeh Ashrafian, Shahrbanoo Keshavarz Azizi Raftar, Arefeh Shahryari, Ava Behrouzi, Rezvan Yaghoubfar, Arezou Lari, Hamid Reza Moradi, Shohreh Khatami, Mir Davood Omrani, Farzam Vaziri, Andrea Masotti, Seyed Davar Siadat
Recently, Akkermansia muciniphila an anaerobic member of the gut microbiota, has been proposed as a next-generation probiotic. The aim of this study was evaluation of the efect of alive and pasteurized A. muciniphila on health status, intestinal integrity, immune response, lipid metabolism, and gut microbial composition in normal-diet fed mice as well as direct efects of the bacterium on Caco-2 cell line. A total of 30 mice were distributed into three diferent groups, control, alive, and pasteurized A. muciniphila-treated group. After acclimation, control and treatment groups were administrated with PBS and 109 CFU/200µL of bacterial suspension for 5 weeks, respectively. Besides, Caco-2 separately exposed to alive, pasteurized A. muciniphila and PBS for 24 h. The results showed that administration of A. muciniphila leads to reduction in body, liver, and white adipose weight. Histology data revealed both treatments had no adverse efects in colon, liver, and adipose tissues as well as induced better gut structure. Moreover, biochemical parameters and infammatory biomarkers in plasma demonstrated that pasteurized A. muciniphila had more pronounce efect. Furthermore, alive A. muciniphia had better efects on the modulation of gene expression related to fatty acid synthesis, energy homeostasis, and immune response in the liver; meanwhile, these efects in the adipose was more in the pasteurized A. muciniphila administration. More importantly, the improvement of gut health by enhancing strengthen intestinal integrity and maintaining immune homeostasis was seen in both treatments; notably, pasteurized A. muciniphila had more efective. Similarly, treatment with the pasteurized form more efectively upregulated tight junction and regulated immune response-related genes in Caco-2 cell line. Both treatments triggered the improvement of microbiota communities, particularly the alive form. Therefore, both forms of A. muciniphila could modulate lipid and immune homeostasis, improved some gut microbiota, and promoted the overall health, while all these efects were dominantly observed in pasteurized form. In conclusion, pasteurized A. muciniphila can be considered as new medical supplement to maintain health state and prevent diseases in normal mice through diferent mechanisms.