Use of new generation probiotics may become an integral part of the prevention and treatment strategies of obesity. The aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of a potential probiotic strain of lactic bacteria Hafnia alvei (H. alvei) HA4597™, in a mouse model of obesity characterized by both hyperphagia and diet-induced adiposity. For this purpose, 10-week-old high-fat-diet (HFD)-fed hyperphagic ob/ob male mice received a daily treatment with 1.4 × 1010 CFU of H. alvei for 38 days. Effects of H. alvei were compared to those of a lipase inhibitor orlistat (80 mg/kg daily) and a vehicle (NaCl 0.9%) in HFD-fed ob/ob mice. A control untreated group of ob/ob mice received the standard diet throughout the experiment. The vehicle-treated HFD group displayed increased food intake, worsening of adiposity, and glycemia. Treatment with H. alvei was accompanied by decreased body weight and fat-mass gain along with reduced food intake to the level of the standard-diet-fed mice. At the end of the experiment, the group treated with H. alvei showed a decrease of glycemia, plasma total cholesterol, and alanine aminotransferase. The orlistat-treated mice showed a lower rate of body weight gain but were hyperphagic and hyperglycemic. These results demonstrate the beneficial anti-obesity and metabolic effects of H. alvei HA4597™ in mice with obesity resulting from hyperphagia and diet-induced adiposity.
Keywords: Hafnia alvei; animal models; food intake; microbiota; obesity; probiotics.