Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the hypolipidemic potential of Bifidobacterium animalis LPL-RH, B. longum TTF and Lactobacillus plantarum LPL-1. The cholesterol-lowering ability and bile salt hydrolase activity were determined. Then, the effect of probiotic intervention on blood lipids in high-fat diet fed SD rats was examined. The results showed that the cholesterol removal rates of B. animalis LPL-RH, B. longum TTF and L. plantarum LPL-1 were 23.8%, 24.5% and 20.9%, respectively, with no significant differences among them. All three probiotics had bile salt hydrolase activity. The assays in vivo showed that intervention with LPL-RH, TTF and LPL-1 decreased serum cholesterol by 17.3%, 11.4% and 10.1%, triglycerides by 19.1%, 16.8% and 11.5%, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 24.0%, 20.0% and 10.0%, and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 10.3%, 5.2% and 1.7% in hyperlipidemia rats, respectively. In summary, the three strains have the potential to be developed as lipid-lowering probiotics, with B. animalis LPL-RH having the best lipid-lowering ability.

Key words: probiotics, cholesterol-lowering, hypolipidemic