Lactobacillus plantarum CQPC02 Prevents Obesity in Mice through the PPAR-α Signaling Pathway

We determined the lipid-lowering effect of a new strain of the lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum CQPC02 (LP-CQPC02), from Sichuan pickled cabbages, using an in vivo animal model. A high-fat diet was used to generate obese mice. The effect of LP-CQPC02 was measured using serum parameters and tissues collected from the mice. Obese mice treated with LP-CQPC02 had a lower organ index for liver, epididymal fat, and perirenal fat, and lower levels of aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC), and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) but higher levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the serum and liver. LP-CQPC02-treated obese mice also had lower serum levels of the cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), and higher levels of interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 10 (IL-10). LP-CQPC02 treatment lessened the obesity-associated pathological changes in the liver and epididymal adipose tissue and reduced adipocyte enlargement. The quantitative PCR (qPCR) and Western blot results showed that LP-CQPC02 treatment up-regulated mRNA and protein expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPAR-α), cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1), and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1), but down-regulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-γ) and CCAAT enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/EBP-α) expression in the liver and epididymal adipose tissue. LP-CQPC02 effectively inhibited high-fat diet-induced obesity. The effects of LP-CQPC02 are comparable to the drug l-carnitine but superior to Lactobacillus delbruechii subsp. bulgaricus (LDSB), which is commonly used in the dairy industry. LP-CQPC02 is a potentially useful, high-quality probiotic strain.