The therapeutic effect of Limosilactobacillus fermentum strains and chrysin in chronic unpredictable mild stress mice model

Abstract

Depression is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder and it has an impact on the lives millions of people globally. It can strike at any time in life, from infancy to old age, causing considerable anguish and disruption of life, and ultimately leading to death if ignored. Currently, there is no cure for depression, but there are a variety of treatment options that can help keep symptoms at bay. The human gut microbiota influence the production of neuromodulators such as serotonin, dopamine, GABA, BDNF and SCFAs thus helps in regulating the gut-brain axis. This study investigated the effect of psychobiotics by oral consumption of combination of Limosilactobacillus fermentum strains along with Chrysin on CUMS induced depression mouse models in comparison with fluoxetine. The mice were randomly divided into six groups. The Sucrose Preference Test (SPT), Elevated Plus Maze (EPM), Open Field Test (OFT), Forced Swim Test (FST) and Morris Water Maze (MWM) were used to evaluate the impact of probiotics and chrysin therapy on anxiety and depression. The results showed that psychobiotics i.e., treatment with probiotics and chrysin (TPC) was shown to significantly (p<0.0001) lessen the effects of CUMS on anxiety and depression. Histopathological assessment performed through H&E staining showed remarkable decrease in cell necrosis and cell shrinkage burden within the mice hippocampus observed in the group treated with TPC (combination of probiotics consortium and chrysin) subjected to CUMS. Remarkable difference was also observed in H&E staining of colon. There was no epithelial crypt loss, villus atrophy and cell infiltration observed in TPC group as compared to disease group. Thus, the present findings indicate that psychobiotics i.e., probiotics and chrysin have strong potential to be used as combination therapy for depression by modulating the gut microbiota-brain axis.