Preventive effect of Lactobacillus johnsonii YH1136 against uric acid accumulation and renal damages

Xingting Zhang; Junliang Jiang; Jinge Xin; Ning Sun; Zhifang Zhao; Baoxing Gan; Yi Jiang; Xuemei Gong; Hao Li; Hailin Ma; Xueqin Ni; Yu Chen; Yang Bai; Hesong Wang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1364857

Preventive effect of Lactobacillus johnsonii YH1136 against uric acid accumulation and renal damages

Front Microbiol. 2024 Apr 16:15:1364857. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1364857. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Xingting Zhang^#¹, Junliang Jiang^#², Jinge Xin^#², Ning Sun^#³, Zhifang Zhao^#⁴, Baoxing Gan³, Yi Jiang³, Xuemei Gong³, Hao Li⁵, Hailin Ma⁵, Xueqin Ni³, Yu Chen⁶, Yang Bai^{1

2}, Hesong Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Gastroenterology of Guangdong Province, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Baiyun Branch, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Animal Microecology Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
⁴ Department of Gastroenterology, National Institution of Drug Clinical Trial, Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital, Medical College of Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
⁵ Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa, Tibet, China.
⁶ Guangzhou Beneco Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a prevalent metabolic disorder whose development is associated with intestinal microbiota. Therefore, probiotics have emerged as a potential and safe approach for lowering uric acid (UA) levels. However, the underlying mechanisms of many effective probiotic strains remain unknown.

Methods and results: C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into two groups: control and model groups. The model group received 12 weeks of potassium oxonate. Through 16s sequencing we found that HUA resulted in a significant decrease in the total diversity of all intestinal segments. When each intestinal segment was analyzed individually, the reduction in diversity was only significant in the cecum and colon sections. RDA analysis showed that lactobacilli in the rat colon exhibited a strong correlation with model group, suggesting that Lactobacillus may play an important role in HUA. Consequently, the preventive effects of Lactobacillus johnsonii YH1136 against HUA were investigated. C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups: control, model and YH1136 groups. The results showed that administering Lactobacillus johnsonii YH1136 effectively reduced serum UA levels in vivo by inhibiting hepatic xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity and promoting renal ABCG2 transporter expression. Moreover, supplementation with Lactobacillus johnsonii YH1136 significantly ameliorated pathological damage in the kidney and liver, thereby reducing UA accumulation.

Conclusion: Hyperuricemia is accompanied by an altered composition of multiple gut bacteria, of which Lactobacillus is a key genus. Lactobacillus johnsonii YH1136 may ameliorate renal involvement in HUA via the gut-kidney axis.

Keywords: 16S rRNA sequencing; gut microbiota; gut-kidney axis; hyperuricemia; probiotic.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82204045), the Scientific Development funds for Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant Nos. 2022A1515011625 and 2022A1515011230), the Lhasa Science and Technology Program (Grant No. LSKJ202309), the Key Research and Development Program of Tibet (Grant No. XZ202201ZY0027G), the Research Fund of Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital (Grant No. GZSYQN202207), and the President Foundation of Nanfang Hospital Baiyun Branch, Southern Medical University (Grant Nos. BYYZ23002 and BYYZ23004).