Lactobacillus plantarum FRT4 alleviated obesity by modulating gut microbiota and liver metabolome in high-fat diet-induced obese mice

Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic recognized by the World Health Organization. Probiotics supplementation has been shown to contribute to improve lipid metabolism. However, mechanisms of action of probiotics against obesity are still not clear. Lactobacillus plantarum FRT4, a probiotic previously isolated from a kind of local yogurt, had good acid and bile salt tolerance and lowered cholesterol in vitro. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of L. plantarum FRT4 on serum and liver lipid profile, liver metabolomics, and gut microbiota in mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). Design: Mice were fed with either normal diet or HFD for 16 weeks and administered 0.2 mL of 1 x 10(9) or 1 x 10(10) CFU/mL dosage of L. plantarum FRT4 during the last 8 weeks of the diet. Cecal contents were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Hepatic gene expression and metabolites were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and metabolomics, respectively. Results: L. plantarum FRT4 intervention significantly reduced the HFD-induced body weight gain, liver weight, fat weight, serum cholesterol, triglyceride, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in the liver (P < 0.05). Liver metabolomics demonstrated that the HFD increased choline, glycerophosphocholine, and phosphorylcholine involved in the glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway. All these changes were reversed by FRT4 treatment, bringing the levels close to those in the control group. Further mechanisms showed that FRT4 favorably regulated gut barrier function and pro-inflammatory biomediators. Furthermore, FRT4 intervention altered the gut microbiota profiles and increased microbial diversity. The relative abundances of Bacteroides, Parabateroides, Anaerotruncus, Alistipes, Intestinimonas, Butyicicoccus, and Butyricimonas were significantly upregulated. Finally, Spearman's correlation analysis revealed that several specific genera were strongly correlated with glycerophospholipid metabolites (P < 0.05). Conclusions: These findings suggested that L. plantarum FRT4 had beneficial effects against obesity in HFD-induced obese mice and can be used as a potential functional food for the prevention of obesity.