Effect of probiotic administration on the immune response: a systematic review of experimental models in rats

• Main Authors: Viviam de Oliveira Silva, Renata de Carvalho Foureaux, Thiago Santos Araujo, Ana Paula Peconick, Marcio Gilberto Zangeronimo, Luciano José Pereira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Tecnologia do Paraná (Tecpar) 2012-10-01
• Series: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Subjects: immunity; probiotics; rats; dietary supplements
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132012000500007

The probiotic influence on the immune system, especially under pathogenic challenge conditions, still remains controversial. To address this, a systematic review of current studies concerning the efficacy of probiotics on the immune response of rats subjected to experimental challenges was conducted. The survey was conducted using PubMed, ISI Web of Science and Scielo databases. Only studies which tested probiotics in vivo in rats were included. The experimental design, methodological quality, and results of the articles were analyzed. In total 21 articles were selected for this study. The most commonly used microorganisms in the experiments were those of the genus Lactobacillus, which was reported in 12 articles. The second most often used genus was Bifidobacterium (B. animalis and B.longum). In general, the probiotics use against experimental pathogenic challenges was successful: 86% of the selected articles reported a beneficial effect on the immune response associated with the use of probiotics.