流感,由流感病毒引起的严重呼吸道疾病,长期以来一直是人类健康的突出威胁。越来越多的研究表明,口服益生菌可以通过肠-肺轴增加对肺部感染的免疫反应,从而缓解肺部疾病。在这项研究中,我们在小鼠模型中评估了口服戊糖片球菌MIANGUAN2(MIANGUAN2)对流感感染的影响。我们的结果表明,口服MIANGUAN2可以显着改善体重减轻,肺指数,和肺部病理学,和减少感染流感的小鼠的肺病毒载量。此外,MIANGUAN2处理的小鼠显示出显著较低水平的TNF-α,IL-1β,IFN-γ,和IL-12p70以及在肺中更高的IL-4的产生。据此,肺的转录组分析表明,MIANGUAN2处理的小鼠炎症标志物的表达减少,如TNF,凋亡,和NF-κB途径。此外,MIANGUAN2的给药通过调节肠道微生物区来恢复SCFA谱。产生SCFA的细菌,例如p_Firmicutes,f_落叶松科,和f_Ruminoccaceae,与PBS治疗组相比,MIANGUAN2治疗组富集。始终如一,MIANGUAN2组的SCFA浓度显著高于PBS治疗组.此外,SCFA的浓度与产生SCFA的细菌呈正相关,比如Ruminococus,而与病毒滴度和促炎细胞因子呈负相关。总之,这项动物研究表明,戊糖片球菌MIANGUAN2可能通过改变肠道菌群组成和增加肠道菌群来源的SCFA水平来缓解流感感染。
Influenza, a severe respiratory disease caused by the influenza virus, has long been a prominent threat to human health. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that oral administration with probiotics may increase the immune response to lung infection via the gut-lung axis leading to the alleviation of the pulmonary disease. In this study, we evaluated the effects of oral administration of Pediococcus pentosaceus MIANGUAN2 (MIANGUAN2) on influenza infection in a mouse model. Our results showed that oral administration of MIANGUAN2 significantly improved weight loss, lung index, and lung pathology, and decreased lung viral load of influenza-infected mice. Additionally, MIANGUAN2-treated mice showed significantly lower levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IFN-γ, and IL-12p70 and higher production of IL-4 in the lung. In accordance with this, the transcriptome analysis of the lung indicated that MIANGUAN2-treated mice had reduced expression of inflammation markers, such as TNF, apoptosis, and the NF-Kappa B pathway. Furthermore, the administration of MIANGUAN2 restored the SCFAs profiles through regulating the gut microbiota. SCFA-producing bacteria, such as p_Firmicutes, f_Lachnospiraceae, and f_Ruminococcaceae, were enriched in the MIANGUAN2-treated group compared with PBS-treated group. Consistently, the concentrations of SCFAs in the MIANGUAN2 group were significantly higher than those in the PBS-treated group. In addition, the concentrations of SCFAs were positively correlated with SCFA-producing bacteria, such as Ruminococcus, while being negatively correlated with the virial titers and proinflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, this animal study suggests that Pediococcus pentosaceus MIANGUAN2 may alleviate the influenza infection by altering the gut microbiota composition and increasing the levels of gut microbiota-derived SCFAs.