The role of Lactobacillus plantarum 6C in alleviating infectious enteritis induced by Eimeria falciformis

Infectious enteritis, a public health issue attracting significant attention, is a comparatively challenging target for treatment when it is caused by intracellular pathogens and its treatment is currently mainly dependent on antibiotics. Probiotics are acknowledged as food-grade and safe microorganisms that are beneficial for maintaining the normal gut microbiota and alleviating some intestinal diseases. In this study, an infectious enteritis model was established with Eimeria falciformis , and Lactobacillus plantarum 6C ( L. plantarum 6C), which was previously screened in our laboratory and has excellent traits and potential probiotic functions, was used as the research target. The results showed that L. plantarum 6C can alleviate the apparent symptoms of infectious enteritis by reducing oocyst output and body weight loss. Through combined multiomics analyses, we found that its mechanism of action may involve increasing the proportion of beneficial microorganisms in the intestine and enhancing the PPAR signalling pathway, thereby regulating the dynamic balance among inflammatory cytokines to achieve control over infectious enteritis. Moreover, we found that the combined use of L. plantarum 6C and antibiotics might result in more significant advantages during the recovery period of infectious enteritis by restoring the intestinal microbial richness and enhancing relevant metabolic pathways. The present study provides new and reliable evidence for the use of probiotics to replace (or be combined with) antibiotics for the alleviation of infectious enteritis caused by intracellular pathogens and provides new insights into the development and utilization of probiotics. • A novel model of infectious enteritis was established by using E. falciformis. • L. plantarum 6C could alleviate the intestinal damage caused by infectious enteritis. • L. plantarum 6C combined with antibiotics exhibited a better effect in recovering. • Our study provided new insights into the development and utilization of probiotics.