Ameliorative effect of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp2 against cyclophosphamide-induced liver injury in mice

Cyclophosphamide (CTX) is a widely used anticancer drug that can cause liver injury, but there is no effective treatment available at present. The antioxidant properties of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp2 in vitro and its effect on CTX-induced liver injury in mice were investigated thoroughly. The order of antioxidant capacity of the fer-mentate of Lp2 was as followed: fermented supernatant > cell-free extract > intact cell. BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with 80 mg/kg BW/d CTX for 3 days to build a liver injury model, then treated with Lp2 fermented supernatant (Lp2-s) and Lp2 culture broth (Lp2). After 10 days, the indicators of oxidative stress and liver injury were measured. Both Lp2-s and Lp2 restored the levels of T-SOD, CAT, GSH-Px, MDA, GSH, ALT, and AST. The western blotting results showed that Lp2-s and Lp2 ameliorated CTX-induced oxidative damage and hepatocyte apoptosis via inhibiting MAPKs pathway and strengthening Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1 antioxidant de-fense system, thus inhibiting the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway. Therefore, both Lp2-s and Lp2 had similar protective effects on CTX-induced liver injury.

Automated summary

This study found that Lactobacillus plantarum Lp2 has antioxidant properties and can alleviate liver injury caused by cyclophosphamide. It improves CTX-induced oxidative damage and hepatocyte apoptosis by inhibiting the MAPKs pathway and strengthening the Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1 antioxidant defense system.