Prophylactic supplementation of Bifidobacterium longum protects mice from ovariectomy-induced exacerbated allergic airway inflammation. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects more females than males after puberty, and its symptoms and severity in women change during menstruation and menopause. Recently, evidence has demonstrated that interactions among the microbiota, female sex hormones, and immunity are associated with the development of autoimmune diseases. However, no studies have investigated if therapeutic gut microbiota modulation strategies could affect asthma exacerbation during menstruation and menopause. Here we aimed to examine the preventive effects of a probiotic,5, on airway inflammation exacerbation in allergic ovariectomized mice. We first evaluated the gut microbiota composition and diversity in mice 10 days after ovariectomy. Next, we examined whether re-exposure of ovariectomized allergic mice to antigen (ovalbumin) would lead to exacerbation of lung inflammation. Finally, we evaluated the preventive and treatment effect of5on lung inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. Our results showed that whereas ovariectomy caused no alterations in the gut microbiota composition and diversity in this animal model, 10 days after ovariectomy, preventive use administration of5, rather than its use after surgery was capable of attenuate the exacerbated lung inflammation and hyperresponsiveness in ovariectomized allergic mice. This prophylactic effect of5involves acetate production, which led to increased fecal acetate levels and, consequently, increased Treg cells in ovariectomized allergic mice.