Probiotics and Alcoholic Liver Disease: Treatment and Potential Mechanisms

Figure 2

The relative distribution of the bacterial phyla and genera in response to ethanol feeding and LGG supplementation. Mice were fed with Lieber-DeCarli diet containing 5% EtOH or pair-fed with maltose dextrin for 6 weeks. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was supplemented at a dose of 10⁹ CFU/day for the last 2 weeks with continued alcohol feeding. The fecal samples were analyzed by a metagenomic approach. The microbiome of the PF, AF + LGG, and AF mice is shown in the pie charts and color coordinated by genus and phylum. The different shades of color represent the different genera and the common color spectrum (reds, purples, green, and orange) represents the phyla. The outer ring around the pie charts also depicts the different phyla. The microbiome of AF mice is characterized by greater abundance of Alcaligenes and Corynebacterium and loss of Tannerella. The AF + LGG group shows a much greater abundance of Lactobacillus and nonspecific Ruminococcaceae incertae sedis compared to the other exposure groups (PF: pair-feeding; AF: alcohol feeding; and AF + LGG: alcohol feeding plus Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, adapted from [17]).