Effects of different types and doses of whey protein on the physiological and intestinal flora in D-galactose induced aging mice

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 15;16(4):e0248329. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248329. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The elderly usually suffer from many diseases. Improving the quality of life of the elderly is an urgent social issue. In this present study, D-galactose treated aging mice models were used to reveal the effects of different animal sources and different doses of whey protein (WP) on the immune indexes organs and intestinal flora. A total of 9 groups were set up, including normal control (NC), negative control (NS), positive control (Vc), low-, medium- and high-doses of cow WP intervention groups (CL, CM and CH for short, correspondingly) and low-, medium- and high-doses of goat WP intervention groups (GL, GM and GH for short, correspondingly). The body weight gain, thymus/body weight ratio, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, spleen immunoglobulins G (IgG), spleen interleukin-2 (IL-2) and spleen interleukin-2 (IL-6) were measured. Then, the intestinal contents were collected, and 16s genes of intestinal bacteria were sequenced to reveal the changes in bacterial flora structure. WP intervention significantly increased the weight gain, thymus/body ratio and SOD activity, but decrease the content of MDA. WP intervention increased some immune indicators. All the WP treated aging mice showed similar values of physiological indexes to that of the Vc group, even better. The relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Stenotrophomonas was increased and decreased, respectively, by both cow and goat WP. Lactobacillus may be involved in regulating the functional repair of organisms. In contrast, Stenotrophomonas might play a negative role in the immune and antioxidant capacity of the body. Combining physiological indicators and intestinal flora structure, low-concentration WP for cow and goat might be optimal for aging models.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aging / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Antioxidants / metabolism
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Female
  • Galactose / metabolism
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / drug effects*
  • Malondialdehyde / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Oxidative Stress / drug effects
  • Quality of Life
  • Spleen / metabolism
  • Superoxide Dismutase / metabolism
  • Whey Proteins / metabolism
  • Whey Proteins / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Whey Proteins
  • Malondialdehyde
  • Superoxide Dismutase
  • Galactose

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities through Project 31920190022, Gansu province Science and Technology funding plan through Project 17YF1WA166, and Ministry of Science and Technology Assistance Project through Project KY201501005. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish.