Lactobacillus plantarum Alleviates Obesity by Altering the Composition of the Gut Microbiota in High-Fat Diet-Fed Mice

Abstract

Metabolic disorders and intestinal flora imbalance usually accompany obesity. Due to its diverse biological activities, <i>Lactobacillus plantarum</i> is widely used to alleviate various diseases as a probiotic. Here, we show that <i>L. plantarum</i> can reduce the body weight of mice fed high-fat diets, reduce fat accumulation, and enhance mice glucose tolerance. Our results show that <i>L. plantarum</i> can significantly reduce the expression of DGAT1 and DGAT2, increase the expression of Cpt1a, and promote the process of lipid metabolism. Further data show that <i>L. plantarum</i> can increase the SCFA content in the colon and reverse the intestinal flora disorder caused by HFD, increase the abundance of <i>Bacteroides</i>, and <i>Bifidobacteriales</i>, and reduce the abundance of <i>Firmicutes</i> and <i>Clostridiales</i>. Finally, through Pearson correlation analysis, we found that <i>Bacteroides</i> and SCFAs are positively correlated, while <i>Clostridiales</i> are negatively correlated with SCFAs. Therefore, we believe that <i>L. plantarum</i> can regulate the structure of the intestinal microbial community, increase the production of SCFAs and thus regulate lipid metabolism.