Lactobacillus plantarum Attenuates Oxidative Stress and Liver Injury in Rats with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

Background: Steatohepatitis is a morphological pattern of liver injury that, in non‑alcoholic patients, may represent a form of chronic liver disease currently known as non‑alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Probiotics, Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium sp., have been proposed to prevent and treat different inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. Objective: To examine the effect of Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) on the liver damage of non‑alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) rats. Materials and Methods: Male Sprague‑Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 (control, n = 8) was fed with phosphate‑buffered saline (PBS) 1 mL/rat. Group 2 (NASH, n = 8) was fed with 100% fat diet for 6 weeks. Group 3 (NASH + L. plantarum, n = 8) was fed with 100% fat diet plus L. plantarum 1.8 × 109 colony‑forming unit/mL was suspended in PBS by gavage twice a day at an interval of 4 h for 6 weeks. All rats were sacrificed to collect blood and liver samples at the end of the treatment period. Results: The levels of hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were increased while the expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptors gamma (PPAR-γ) was decreased significantly in the NASH group as compared with the control group. Histopathology from the NASH group showed macrovesicular steatosis, hepatocyte ballooning, and lobular inflammation. The NASH + L. plantarum group had attenuated the levels of MDA and TNF-α, enhanced PPAR-γ expression, and improved the histopathology. Conclusion: L. plantarum treatment can attenuate oxidative stress, inflammation, and improvement of histopathology in rats with NASH.