小村 智美

Abstract LPS-induced inflammation triggers metabolic reprogramming and nutritional decline. This study aimed to identify biomarkers for inflammatory and nutritional stress using GC-MS/MS-based metabolomic profiling. Male mice received LPS to induce systemic inflammation. Evaluations included liver histology (H&E, Gr-1), blood biochemistry, and metabolomic analysis of liver and plasma. LPS administration significantly increased hepatic neutrophil infiltration and liver enzymes, while decreasing nutritional markers (total protein, albumin, LDL-cholesterol). In the liver, LPS increased glycolytic and TCA cycle intermediates (e.g. 3-phosphoglycerate, citric acid) but decreased amino acids, including glutamine and tryptophan. Plasma analysis showed significant decreases in tryptophan, glucose, and succinic acid. Notably, tryptophan was significantly reduced in both compartments. Our findings demonstrate that tryptophan serves as a robust biomarker for monitoring the intersection of inflammatory response and nutritional status, reflecting synchronized metabolic shifts in the liver and plasma.

In Parkinson's disease (PD), α–synuclein (αSyn) accumulation drives neuropathological progression, establishing it as a potential therapeutic target. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) provide various health benefits to the host and are expected to offer protective effects on neurological functions through the brain–gut connection, as indicated by animal studies. However, the protective effects of LAB against αSyn are not well understood. We investigated whether LAB feeding could reduce αSyn accumulation and improve mobility in transgenicCaenorhabditis elegans, an invertebrate model organism that expresses human αSyn in muscle. Among the nine screened strains,Pediococcus pentosaceussuppressed αSyn accumulation and the decrease in bending counts, a locomotion index in nematodes. Additionally, feedingP. pentosaceustoOryzias latipes(medaka), a vertebrate model organism, alleviated PD–like behavioral defects induced by 1–methyl–4–phenyl–1,2,3,6–tetrahydropyridine.P. pentosaseusacts as a probiotic against PD, and PD model worms and medaka can be used to screen effective LAB for prevention.

Several approaches for regulating health and disease by intestinal bacteria, bacteria isolated from food products, and food factors have been investigated; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between these bacteria and their hosts are still unknown. Caenorhabditis elegans is a crucial model for exploring various biological phenomena and has been used in studying intestinal bacteria, mainly in the field of antiaging, anti-amyloid β activity in Alzheimer's disease, and its interaction to hosts. The nematode model is expected to be increasingly utilized for elucidating the interactions of beneficial bacteria or food factors with hosts. Herein, we review anti-aging and suppression of amyloid-β expression in a C. elegans model fed lactic acid bacteria, and our developed methods for orally administering food factors and assessing advanced glycation end products as an aging indicator.

Abstract Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) contribute to human health, and LAB functionality has been studied using Caenorhabditis elegans as an alternative host. However, many studies have focused on the efficacy of a single strain of LAB, and few reports have compared various LAB strains. In this study, we examined the effects of 15 strains of LAB isolated from vegetables, meat, and fermented foods on nematode longevity and healthy lifespan. To reduce the frequency of laborious survival observations, we performed a lifespan assay on agar plates containing 2′-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (FUdR), which inhibits egg-hatching and prevents generation mixing. Four beneficial strains showed significant lifespan extension and increased spontaneous nematode mobility, regardless of treatment with or without FUdR and the frequency of survival observation. These results suggested increased longevity and an extended healthy lifespan, which confirming the reliability of our method. The four strains are expected to show anti-ageing effects besides longevity and have effects on age-related degenerative diseases. Our labour-saving method can be used as an alternative to conventional methods and enable simultaneous screening of multiple strains. Future research could explore factors contributing to lifespan regulation by comparing and verifying differential strain effects on lifespan.

<named-content content-type="genus-species">Cutibacterium acnes</named-content> is one of the most common bacterial species residing on the human skin. Although the pathogenic properties of <named-content content-type="genus-species">C. acnes</named-content> , such as its association with acne vulgaris, have been widely described, its beneficial aspects have not been well characterized.

<title>Abstract</title>To assess the utility of autofluorescence as a noninvasive biomarker of senescence in <italic>Caenorhabditis elegans</italic>, we measured the autofluorescence of individual nematodes using spectrofluorometry. The fluorescence of each worm increased with age. Animals with lower fluorescence intensity exhibited longer life expectancy. When proteins extracted from worms were incubated with sugars, the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) increased over time. Ribose enhanced these changes not only in vitro but also in vivo. The glycation blocker rifampicin suppressed this rise in fluorescence. High-resolution mass spectrometry revealed that vitellogenins accumulated in old worms, and glycated vitellogenins emitted six-fold higher fluorescence than naive vitellogenins. The increase in fluorescence with ageing originates from glycated substances, and therefore could serve as a useful noninvasive biomarker of AGEs. <italic>C. elegans</italic> can serve as a new model to look for anti-AGE factors and to study the relationship between AGEs and senescence.