Abstract:
Hypercholesterolemia is defined as high cholesterol level in blood serum and usually
associated with the cardiovascular diseases. The conventional treatments are costly and have
reported adverse effects. Several studies reported that Lactobacillus strains have the ability to
decrease cholesterol level during consumption. So probiotics could be an alternative treatment.
The objective of this study was to investigate the safety, survival and cholesterol lowering
potential of previously isolated Lactobacillus species in vitro and in vivo using High Fat Diet rat
model. The L .rhamnosus (I-2 & I-12), L. salvarius (I-7a) and Lactobacillus (I-17) survived and
colonized the GIT. The rats were gaining weight and no symptoms of disease were shown
highlighting the safety of the strains. Two out of four strains i.e. L.rhamnosus (I-2) and
Lactobacillus (I-17) showed significant BSH activity with maximum cholesterol assimilation in
the broth medium. Furthermore, administration of these probiotic dosages to the rats fed with
High Fat Diet resulted in significant reduction in cholesterol, better LDL and HDL ratios at the
end of 30 days trial as compared to control and statin fed group. These strains have variability in
cholesterol reduction ability. Our study showed that both BSH positive isolates i.e. L.rhamnosus
(I-2) and Lactobacillus spp. (I-17) have also comparable in vivo results as compared to the
commercial available drug i.e. statins . The results of the study suggest that these Lactobacillus
strains can be used as potential probiotic strains for cholesterol reduction. These isolates can be
used as an alternative treatment for serum cholesterol reduction. However clinical trials are
required for conclusive verdict for its use in cholesterol treatment.
