Abstract
Purpose
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) or hepatic coma is a demanding, not utterly understood complication of acute and chronic liver dysfunction and portosystemic shunting. In HE, hyperammonemia and inflammatory responses are believed to act in synergism. Probiotics, Lactobacillus plantarum UBLP40 and Bacillus clausii UBBC07 reduce small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and hyperammonemia, thereby preventing HE development.
Methods
The effect of probiotics-Lactobacillus plantarum UBLP40 (107 CFU/day, 14 days) and Bacillus clausii UBBC07 (107 CFU/day, 14 days) combination and standard drug-lactulose (2.5 ml/kg in 3 divided doses, 14 days) was studied in thioacetamide (250 mg/kg for three days) induced acute HE in rats by measuring behavioural parameters, biochemical parameters (serum AST, ALT, ALP and ammonia level), neurochemical parameters and histopathology study in brain and liver.
Results
In contrast to only thioacetamide treated rats, probiotics treatment substantially (p < 0.001) reduced liver function parameters, i.e. serum AST, ALT, ALP, and ammonia, improved behaviour parameters, i.e. decreased motor disruption, improved memory impairment. Probiotics treated rats have also shown a substantial improvement in oxidative stress parameters i.e. reduced lipid peroxidation and increased glutathione level in brain tissue and ameliorated the histopathological changes induced by thioacetamide in the brain and liver.
Conclusions
It can be concluded based on the findings that the combination therapy of Lactobacillus plantarum UBLP40 and Bacillus clausiiUBBC07 proves to be effective in acute hepatic encephalopathy in the preclinical stage, and further studies are required to assess this therapy potential in the clinical setting.
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Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
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Conceptualization: [Chirag Patel, Lalita Shahgond, Sanjeev Acharya, Priyanshi Patel]; Methodology: [Lalita Shahgond, Khushboo Thakur, Dipta Sarkar]; Formal analysis and investigation: [Chirag Patel, Lalita Shahgond, Khushboo Thakur, Dipta Sarkar]; Writing—original draft preparation: [Chirag Patel, Lalita Shahgond, Priyanshi Patel]; Writing—review and editing: [Chirag Patel, Lalita Shahgond, Sanjeev Acharya]; Supervision: [Sanjeev Acharya].
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Shahgond, L., Patel, C., Thakur, K. et al. Therapeutic potential of probiotics – Lactobacillus plantarum UBLP40 and Bacillus clausii UBBC07 on thioacetamide-induced acute hepatic encephalopathy in rats. Metab Brain Dis 37, 185–195 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-021-00862-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-021-00862-w