Amelioration Effect of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens ZW3 on Ovalbumin-Induced Allergic Symptoms in BALB/c Mice

Previous studies have shown that supplementation with specific probiotics can be used to alleviate allergy symptoms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anti-allergic effects of <i>Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens</i> ZW3 (ZW3) in ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic mice. The mice were divided into six groups: the food allergy group, positive group (<i>Lactobacillus rhamnosus</i> GG), low-dose ZW3 group, middle-dose ZW3 group, high-dose ZW3 group, and the control group involving healthy mice. BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with OVA/complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) for allergy sensitization. Probiotics were administered orally once every two days in the probiotic-treated groups. The allergic score, serum OVA-sIgE, body mass, thymus, and spleen indexes were detected on day 22, and the relative mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines was detected via RT-qPCR. The results suggest that the body weight and thymus index returned to normal levels; allergy scores, serum OVA-sIgE, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 expression decreased; and IFN-γ and IL-2 increased significantly in the ZW3 group compared with the allergy group. Furthermore, ZW3 decreased <i>Muribaculaceae</i> and <i>Ruminococcaceae</i> abundance and increased <i>Lachnospiraceae</i> abundance in the intestinal flora. In summary, ZW3 induced anti-allergic effects by increasing Th1 cytokines and decreasing Th2 cytokines, which can remarkably ameliorate the symptoms of an ovalbumin-induced food allergy.