Hafnia alvei HA4597 Strain Reduces Food Intake and Body Weight Gain and Improves Body Composition, Glucose, and Lipid Metabolism in a Mouse Model of Hyperphagic Obesity

Use of new generation probiotics may become an integral part of the prevention and treatment strategies of obesity. The aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of a potential probiotic strain of lactic bacteria Hafnia alvei (H. alvei) HA4597 (TM), in a mouse model of obesity characterized by both hyperphagia and diet-induced adiposity. For this purpose, 10-week-old high-fat-diet (HFD)-fed hyperphagic ob/ob male mice received a daily treatment with 1.4 x 10(10) CFU of H. alvei for 38 days. Effects of H. alvei were compared to those of a lipase inhibitor orlistat (80 mg/kg daily) and a vehicle (NaCl 0.9%) in HFD-fed ob/ob mice. A control untreated group of ob/ob mice received the standard diet throughout the experiment. The vehicle-treated HFD group displayed increased food intake, worsening of adiposity, and glycemia. Treatment with H. alvei was accompanied by decreased body weight and fat-mass gain along with reduced food intake to the level of the standard-diet-fed mice. At the end of the experiment, the group treated with H. alvei showed a decrease of glycemia, plasma total cholesterol, and alanine aminotransferase. The orlistat-treated mice showed a lower rate of body weight gain but were hyperphagic and hyperglycemic. These results demonstrate the beneficial anti-obesity and metabolic effects of H. alvei HA4597 (TM) in mice with obesity resulting from hyperphagia and diet-induced adiposity.