Lactobacillus plantarum and Inulin: Therapeutic Agents to Enhance Cardiac Ob Receptor Expression and Suppress Cardiac Apoptosis in Type 2 Diabetic Rats

Abstract

Background. T2DM may cause increased levels of oxidative stress and cardiac apoptosis through elevated blood glucose. The present study investigated the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) as a probiotic strain and inulin as a prebiotic supplement on cardiac oxidative stress and apoptotic markers in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. Methods. A high-fat diet and a low dose of streptozotocin were used to induce type 2 diabetes. The rats were divided into six groups which were supplemented with L. plantarum, inulin, or their combination for 8 weeks. Results. The results showed improved activity of cardiac antioxidant parameters including total antioxidant capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (P<0.001, P<0.01, and P<0.01, respectively) and decreased level of cardiac malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration (P<0.05). These changes were accompanied with increased protein expression of cardiac obesity receptor (Ob-R) (P=0.05) and reduced apoptotic markers such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-), Fas ligand (FasL), and caspase proteins (P<0.001, P=0.003, and P<0.01, respectively) in T2DM rats after concurrent L. plantarum and inulin supplementation. Moreover, a remarkable correlation of cardiac Ob-R and oxidative stress parameters with cardiac apoptotic markers was observed (P<0.01). Conclusion. The concurrent use of L. plantarum and inulin seems to be beneficial, as they can lead to decreased heart complications of T2DM via reducing cardiac apoptotic markers.