Effects of chronic treatment with new strains of Lactobacillus plantarum on cognitive, anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in male mice

The present study evaluated the effects of chronic administration
of two new strains of Lactobacillus
plantarum, L. plantarum 286 (Lp
286) and L. plantarum 81 (Lp 81) isolated from the fermentation of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) and cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), respectively,
on cognitive, anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in male mice. Different
groups of animals were administered (oral gavage) solutions of vehicle, Lp 286
or Lp 81 for 30 days, and animals were tested for general locomotor activity, depressive-like
behavior in the forced swim test, and learning/memory and anxiety-like behavior
in the plus-maze discriminative avoidance task. Treatment with the strains Lp 286
and Lp 81 did not interfere with locomotor activity or learning and memory. The
Lp 286 strain exerted anti-depressant- and anxiolytic-like effects under our
experimental conditions.