Abstract: Purpose: The protective effects of Cordyceps militaris polysaccharide supplemented probiotic yogurt on alcoholic liver injury in mice were investigated. Methods: Different doses (0.03%, 0.06%, 0.12%) of the probiotic yogurt following 40% ethanol were orally given to mice on a daily basis for 28 days. Body mass, liver index, serum and liver biochemical indicators were determined. Paraffin sections of liver tissue were prepared for observation of histopathological changes by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Results: In addition to remarkably improving liver damage, the probiotic yogurt at all doses could significantly reduce liver index and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities as well as total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in serum, increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels in serum and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities, and decrease malondialdehyde (MDA) level in liver tissue (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, liver function of mice in the high-dose group was enhanced, and the serum levels of ALT and AST were decreased by 58.87% and 38.89%, respectively. Lipid metabolism in the liver was improved; TG, TC, LDL-C levels were decreased by 39.48%, 26.92% and 38.54%, respectively, and HDL-C level was increased by 20.67%. Liver antioxidant capacity was improved as reflected by the fact that the contents of GSH-Px and SOD in mouse liver were increased by 53.95% and 25.16%, respectively, and MDA content was reduced by 49.57%. Conclusion: The protective effect of probiotic yogurt supplemented with Cordyceps militaris polysaccharides on alcoholic liver injury in mice is significantly higher than that of plain yogurt, which is positively correlated with the concentration of Cordyceps militaris polysaccharides. Therefore, there is a synergistic protective effect of yoghurt and Cordyceps militaris polysaccharides on alcoholic liver injury in mice.

Key words: Cordyceps militaris polysaccharide, yogurt, alcoholic liver injury, synergistic protective effect