Weissella confusa MW051433 Mitigates Hypercholesterolemia by Biliary Cholesterol Excretion: The In Vivo Evidence

The current study explored cholesterol-lowering potential and the underlying mechanism (biliary cholesterol excretion) of a prebiotic (mannitol), probiotic (Weissella confusa MW051433), and their synbiotic (mannitol + W. confusa MW051433) in high fat diet induced hypercholesterolemic murine model. The experiment employed a randomized controlled design consisting of five groups: negative control, positive control and three treatment groups, with six rats in each group. Positive control and treatment groups were maintained on high fat (18.37%) diet throughout experimental period (60 days). The high-fat diet induced significant (p < 0.05) augmentation in total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein and decrease in high-density lipoprotein within 15 days. By 60th day of experiment, it further led to elevation in liver cholesterol, and hepatic enzymes, and depletion in hemoglobin (35.85%), erythrocytes (34.78%), and hematocrit (27.31%) in PC group. ANOVA followed by Tukey's test revealed that treatment (day 15-60 of experiment) with W. confusa MW051433 and its synbiotic, significantly improved blood lipid profile, liver functions and led to remarkable increase in fecal cholesterol (70.48%, 107.85%) and cholic acid (123.21%, 100.91%) content, respectively. Histopathological findings, including hepatic lipid droplet count, adipocyte size, and cellular integrity, further indicated that the strain facilitated cholesterol reduction through biliary cholesterol excretion mechanism. While the synbiotic showed slight superiority in one parameter, the probiotic alone yielded comparable results. To our information, this is the first report on in vivo hypocholesterolemic efficacy of W. confusa MW051433. Further research exploring its role in cholesterol homeostasis through in silico modeling, and gene/protein expression, is recommended.