EPS-AN8 protection of Cd toxicity in rats

Cadmium (Cd) is highly toxic, world widely distributed metal. Exposure to it corelates with huge number of diseases and organisms' malfunctions. Exopolysaccharides (EPS) derived from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BGAN8, EPS-AN8, previously showed great ability for in vitro protection of intestinal cells from this metal. Therefore, we investigated potential of food supplemented with EPS-AN8 to protect rats from hazard effects of Cd exposure. After thirty days of exposure to lower (5 ppm) and higher (50 ppm) dose of Cd, administration of EPS-AN8 led to decreased Cd content in kidneys, liver, and blood compared to only Cd treated groups, while feces were strongly enriched. In addition, EPS-AN8 reversed Cd-provoked effects on the most significant parameters of oxidative stress (MDA, CAT, GST, GSH) and inflammation (IL-1ß, TNF-a, IFN-?) in duodenum. Moreover, micrographs of duodenum were in line with these findings. Also, EPS-AN8 was successful in protecting from Cd induced histopathological changes in kidneys and liver. As gut microbiota has important role in maintaining homeostasis, we used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and investigated the effects of Cd and EPS-AN8 of one part of microbiota presented in duodenum. While Cd decreased growth of lactobacilli and mostly favored blooming of opportunistic pathogen bacteria, parallel intake of EPS-AN8 reversed those changes. Therefore, our results imply that EPS-AN8 might be extremely noteworthy in combat against this toxic environmental pollutant.