A Mixture of Lactobacillus HY7601 and KY1032 Regulates Energy Metabolism in Adipose Tissue and Improves Cholesterol Disposal in High-Fat-Diet-Fed Mice

We aimed to characterize the anti-obesity and anti-atherosclerosis effects of <i>Lactobacillus curvatus</i> HY7601 and <i>Lactobacillus plantarum</i> KY1032 using high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese C57BL/6 mice. We divided the mice into control (CON), HFD, HFD with 10⁸ CFU/kg/day probiotics (HFD + KL, HY7301:KY1032 = 1:1), and HFD with 10⁹ CFU/kg/day probiotics (HFD + KH, HY7301:KY1032 = 1:1) groups and fed/treated them during 7 weeks. The body mass, brown adipose tissue (BAT), inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT), and epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) masses and the total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were remarkably lower in probiotic-treated groups than in the HFD group in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the expression of uncoupling protein 1 in the BAT, iWAT, and eWAT was significantly higher in probiotic-treated HFD mice than in the HFD mice, as demonstrated by immunofluorescence staining and Western blotting. We also measured the expression of cholesterol transport genes in the liver and jejunum and found that the expression of those encoding liver-X-receptor α, ATP-binding cassette transporters G5 and G8, and cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase were significantly higher in the HFD + KH mice than in the HFD mice. Thus, a <i>Lactobacillus</i> HY7601 and KY1032 mixture with 10⁹ CFU/kg/day concentration can assist with body weight regulation through the management of lipid metabolism and thermogenesis.