Selecting probiotics with the abilities of enhancing GLP-1 to mitigate the progression of type 1 diabetes in vitro and in vivo

We hypothesized that probiotics can stimulate enteroendocrine cells to secret glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) to mitigate the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D). We thus first established a novel screening platform by coculturing lactic acid bacteria with murine enteroendocrine STC-1 cells. Two strains, Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens M (denoted as Strain M) and Lactobacillus kefiri K (denoted as Strain K), were selected according to their capacity to enhance GLP-1 secretion. Administering Strain M and Strain K could alleviate the progression of T1D symptoms in streptozotocin-induced T1D mice model. This T1D-alleviating effect of the selected strains might involve stimulating the secretion of GLP-1, inhibiting the proinflammatory and inflammatory cytokines, elevating the production of IL-10, and modifying the intestinal microbiota. The possible mechanisms that induce Lb. kefiranofaciens M and Lb. kefiri K to stimulate GLP-1 must be further investigated.