Glycated milk protein fermented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus ameliorates the cognitive health of mice under mild-stress condition

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the effects of glycated milk casein (Gc) fermented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus 4B15 (FGc) on the intestinal microbiota and physiological and behavioral properties in mice under chronic stress. Mice were administered Gc or FGc for 10 weeks and then exposed to unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) for 7 weeks. FGc administration restored alterations of gut microbiota induced by UCMS. Moreover, FGc significantly reduced the stress-induced increase in serum corticosterone and decrease in serotonin levels. Anxiety-like behaviors induced by UCMS were also significantly decreased in the FGc group. UCMS-induced dysregulation of gene and protein expression related to neuroendocrine function, neuronal development, and inflammation, and gut-blood-brain barrier function was controlled by FGc pre-treatment. These results strongly suggest the protective effects of FGc targeting of intestinal microbiota for abnormal brain activity, which is consistent with the view that FGc plays an important role in regulating stress-related gut-brain axis disorders.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic mild stress
• brain-gut-microbiome axis
• casein
• glycation
• Lactobacillus rhamnosus 4B15

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the High Value-Added Food Technology Development Program of the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (iPET), and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Republic of Korea [115006-03-3-SB010, 318090-03-1-SB010] and a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program [PJ01322302], Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.