Pediococcus acidilactici CECT9879 (pA1c) Counteracts the Effect of a High‐Glucose Exposure in C. elegans by Affecting the Insulin Signaling Pathway (IIS)

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome‐related diseases, including type‐2 diabetes and obesity, makes it urgent to develop new alternative therapies, such as probiotics. In this study, we have used Caenorhabditis elegans under a high‐glucose condition as a model to examine the potential probiotic activities of Pediococcus acidilactici CECT9879 (pA1c). The supplementation with pA1c reduced C. elegans fat accumulation in a nematode growth medium (NGM) and in a high‐glucose (10 mM) NGM medium. Moreover, treatment with pA1c counteracted the effect of the high glucose by reducing reactive oxygen species by 20%, retarding the aging process and extending the nematode median survival (>2 days in comparison with untreated control worms). Gene expression analyses demonstrated that the probiotic metabolic syndrome‐alleviating activities were mediated by modulation of the insulin/IGF‐1 signaling pathway (IIS) through the rever-sion of the glucose‐nuclear‐localization of daf‐16 and the overexpression of ins‐6 and daf‐16 medi-ators, increased expression of fatty acid (FA) peroxisomal β‐oxidation genes, and downregulation of FA biosynthesis key genes. Taken together, our data suggest that pA1c could be considered a potential probiotic strain for the prevention of the metabolic syndrome‐related disturbances and highlight the use of C. elegans as an appropriate in vivo model for the study of the mechanisms underlying these diseases.