Dysbiosis of gut microbiota and loss of gut-barrier integrity contribute to the development and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The available treatments pose a burden of major adverse effects and new treatment strategies are therefore the need of time. In this study, Pediococcus acidilactici NMCC-B (Probiotic) was evaluated for its safety and efficacy in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced mice model of RA. Mice were treated with either Escherichia coli (1 × 109 CFU/ml) or P. acidilactici NMCC-B (1 × 109 CFU/ml, 2 × 109 CFU/ml) to assess acute, sub-acute, and chronic toxicities. In RA model, mice were either pre-treated with daily dose of P. acidilactici NMCC-B or treated concurrently (day 1-day 27) or post-treated (day 28-day 42). P. acidilactici NMCC-B inhibited gut permeability, lessened joint inflammation, and ameliorated RA progression. No signs of toxicity, pathogenicity or bacterial translocation were observed in animals treated with probiotic. P. acidilactici NMCC-B also restored total body weight, attenuated inflammation, improved antioxidants, alleviated soft tissue swelling, bone damage, and the expression of IL-1β, NF-κB and TNF-α in paw tissue. Based on current findings, it is perceivable that P. acidilactici NMCC-B could be a promising candidate for the management of RA.
Copyright: © 2025 Zulfiqar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.