Proteomics for studying the effects of L. rhamnosus LV108 against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats

Probiotics show protective effects against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, their efficacy against NAFLD and the mechanisms are still unknown. In this study, Tandem Mass Tag (TMT) relative quantitative proteomics was utilized to track the changes in liver protein expression in rats fed with Lactobacillus rhamnosus LV108. A total of 4155 corresponding proteins were identified by MS. A total of 26 differentially expressed proteins were found between the L. rhamnosus LV108 treatment group and mode group, and there are 16 proteins up-regulated and 10 proteins down-regulated. Most of the differentially expressed proteins were involved in apoptosis and lipid metabolism. The key differentially expressed proteins (BFAR and Cyt-C) were verified by parallel reaction monitoring to be reliable. Our study is the first attempt to analyze the protein profile of probiotic-treated NAFLD model rats by quantitative proteomics. The identified proteins in this study will likely contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the effect of probiotics on NAFLD.