Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Multi-Strain Probiotic Food Supplement on Carrageenan-Induced Paw Edema in Male ICR Mice

Inflammation involves the release of several mediators which result to edema at the site of injury or infection. In the past years, probiotics have been utilized as alternative treatments for inflammation due to their immunomodulatory properties. In the present study, the effects of two different concentrations of commercially multi-strain probiotics in carrageenan-induced paw edema in male ICR mice were investigated. Four groups were used in the study; Group A mice were administered with carrageenan alone. Group B mice were injected with diclofenac drug while Groups C and D were both treated with 5% and 10% concentrations of multi-strain probiotics respectively prior to the administration of carrageenan. Two-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey’s post-hoc test was used to analysed the differences between paw thicknesses of each group. Carrageenan-induced inflammation in mice was described as biphasic having an early phase that lasts for 6 hours and a late phase that peaks at 72 hours. The results have shown that the commercial multi-strain probiotic have mildly reduced the inflammation in the first phase of inflammation. Higher or doubled concentration (10%) of the multi- strain probiotics has significantly reduced the first phase of inflammation compared to the recommended concentration of 5%. Furthermore, mice from all the groups underwent motility test and they were able to move their inflamed paw easily. The inflammation caused by carrageenan in this study is found to be biphasic having its low intensity paw edema in the first phase and peak of inflammation at the second phase. The commercially procured multi-strain probiotic have mildly reduced the inflammation in the first phase of inflammation compared to the effects of existing anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac sodium used in this study.