Effects of the multi-strain probiotic preparation LabMix on some immune indices and intestinal microbiota in an antibiotic associated diarrhea rat model

Abstract

Diarrhea is a side effect of antibiotic misuse and is frequently associated with intestinal inflammation and imbalanced gut microbiota. Many studies have demonstrated that probiotics can exhibit potential to mitigate the effects of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). In this study, we employed Lincomycin to induce AAD in the rats and subsequently assessed the impact of the multi-strain probiotic preparation LabMix on this model. The rat groups, including healthy control rats, AAD-induced rats, AAD rats with no treatment (natural recovery rats), and AAD rats treated by LabMix preparation, were evaluated regarding the general assessments, some immune indices, and intestinal microbiota analysis. The results revealed that the LabMix preparation considerably lowered the effects of the antibiotic regarding the diarrhea score and the thickness of the ceca in the rats treated by LabMix preparation. Additionally, the LabMix preparation reduced inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-a, and IL-6, while increasing the IgA in sera and in intestinal mucosae. Furthermore, it altered the compositions and abundance of intestinal bacteria of the rats. In particular, the AAD rats treated by LabMix preparation decreased the levels of potentially harmful genera such as Bacteroides, Escherichia-Shigella, and Pseudomonas. They also increased the levels of beneficial genera including Lactobacillus, Bacillus, Romboutsia, and Clostridium innocuum. In general, the multi-strain probiotic preparation LabMix showed the effective mitigation and the improvement of the intestinal microbiota of the AAD rat model.