Targeting gut microbiota in obesity and IBD: Protective effects of selected probiotic strains

Alterations in the gut microbiota composition were suggested to play a role in the development of chronic diseases such as IBD and obesity. The potential use of probiotics therefore gained attention, although results were sometimes conflicting. Our project aims to evaluate the protective effects of a collection of probiotics (23 strains) using different in vitro models. We highlighted the anti-inflammatory potential of 6 strains using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulation and also their capacity to restore the gut barrier using an in vitro gut permeability model with Caco-2 cells and to induce anti-microbial peptides by stimulating a murine crypt cell line. The anti-inflammatory capacities of the strains were confirmed in vivo in TNBS-induced acute and chronic colitis models in mice. To select probiotics with anti-obesity properties, we evaluated in vitro their capacities to limit lipid accumulation in adipocytes differentiated from 3T3-L1 and to favor the secretion of satiety peptides using the entero-endocrine STC-1 cell line. These studies should provide us crucial clues to select the best strains or mixture for the development of more efficient therapeutic approaches in the management of IBD and obesity and to bring substantial insight into how the host-microbial interaction may govern protective effects