Hepatoprotective Effect of Lactic Acid Bacteria

To evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of lactic acid bacteria, their effects on tert-butylperoxide (t-BHP)-induced hepatotoxicity in mice were measured. When lactic acid bacteria at doses of 0.5 and 2 g (wet weight)/kg were orally administered to mice with t-BHP-induced liver injury, these bacteria significantly inhibited the increase of plasma alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities by $17-57\%$ and $57-66\%$ of the t-BHP control group, respectively. However, these lactic acid bacteria did not protect cytotoxicity induced by t-BHP against HepG2 cells. The inhibitory effects of these lactic acid bacteria at a dose of 15 g/kg were comparable with that of diphenyl dimethyl bicarboxylate at a dose of 0.2 g/kg, which has been used as a commercial hepatoprotective agent. Among these lactic acid Jacteria, Bifidobacterium longum HY8001 exhibited the most potent hepatoprotective effect. These orally administered lactic acid bacteria inhibited liver lipid peroxidation on t-BHP-induced hepatotoxicity of mice. We suggest that lactic acid bacteria may be an effective agent against liver injury.