Insight into the underlying mechanism of functional Pediococcus acidilactici SWU-HX39 in alleviating hyperuricemia

Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a major challenge in the field of public health, and long-term use of traditional drugs can easily lead to addiction and some side effects such as the hypersensitivity syndrome and liver and kidney damage. While several studies have proved that some probiotics are able to reduce serum uric acid (UA) levels, in this study, we found that Pediococcus acidilactici SWU-HX39 (HX39) has superior anti-HUA ability in vitro, and the therapeutic potential of HX39 in a HUA model of a high purine diet was also evaluated in vivo, focusing on its regulatory effects on liver xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity and serum proinflammatory cytokine and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content. The results of the HUA mouse model showed a significant reduction of 49.8% in serum UA and 46.76% XOD activity by HX39 compared with the control group. Moreover, HX39 regulated the composition of the intestinal flora in mice, with significant decreases of the Bacteroides abundances and Parabacteroides, while Eubacterium_brachy_group and norank_f_Ruminococcaceae abundances increased. Further analysis showed that it helped alleviate inflammation and improve kidney metabolism. Significantly reduced kidney damage was observed in mice with HUA. These results may explain the potential mechanism of functional probiotics in alleviating HUA symptoms. Also, probiotic HX39 has promising applications in the treatment of HUA complications.