Yazhou Mao¹, Rong Ren¹, Shuanghong Song², Yuanyuan Hui¹, Linqiang Li¹, Shan Wu³, Aiqing Zhao¹, Bini Wang^1,

Hypercholesterolemia is the major cause of cardiovascular ailments worldwide. Jiang-shui contains plenty of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), although nothing is known about its in vitro probiotic characteristics and cholesterol-lowering effect. Thirty-eight strains were isolated, identified, and classified into Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Limosilactobacillus fermentum, and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. In this study, the top five strains with the highest cholesterol-lowering rates were selected, and strain L. plantarum JS5 demonstrated satisfactory in vitro probiotic characteristics. L. plantarum JS5 ingestion increased serum HDL-C levels and suppressed the increase in body weight and serum cholesterol induced by a high-cholesterol diet. After L. plantarum JS5 treatment, the relative abundance of the genera Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group, Faecalibaculum, and Blautia increased significantly, whereas the genus DesulfovibrIo decreased significantly, improving the intestinal flora composition. In addition, functional analysis revealed that L. plantarum JS5 consumption influenced intestinal flora metabolism in high-cholesterol diet-fed mice in defense, signal transduction, and cellular activity. Hence, L. plantarum JS5 isolated from Jiang-shui might be ideal for preventing and treating hypercholesterolemia.

Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, cholesterol-lowering, probiotics, intestinal flora, High-cholesterol Diet