1 (ANOVA). Interleukin 6, IL-6 There

were no differences between groups at baseline and after treatment. IL-6 concentrations were unremarkable and within normal range before exercise (< 11.3 pg . mL-1), but we observed a significant increase from pre to post exercise above normal in both groups (P = 0.001, Figure 5) at baseline selleckchem and after 14 weeks of treatment. Figure 5 Plasma concentrations of interleukin-6 in trained men before and after 14 weeks of BAY 80-6946 treatment, and pre/post a triple step test cycle ergometry. Pro with probiotics supplemented group, Plac placebo group, Ex exercise, wk week; n = 11 (probiotic supplementation), n = 12 (placebo). Values are means ± SD. There were significant differences from pre to post exercise: PEx < 0.05 (ANOVA). Discussion Athletes exposed to high intense exercise show increased occurence of GI symptoms like cramps, diarrhea, bloating, nausea, and bleeding [31, 32]. These symptoms have been associated with alterations in intestinal permeability and decreased barrier function [33, 34] and subsequent with inflammation and oxidative stress [22, 23]. For this investigation we assembled a panel of surrogate markers related to increased intestinal permeability, oxidative stress and inflammation. The study was primarily focussed on the effects of

14 weeks multi-species probiotic supplementation on intestinal barrier function in trained men compared to a placebo group (primary outcome). The secondary AZD6094 mw outcome was to evaluate the influence of the probiotic supplementation and the model of exercise on markers of oxidative stress and inflammation. The resulting data show that, after the 14 weeks study period i) the probiotics decreased stool zonulin concentrations – a modulator of intestinal barrier function – from slightly above normal into the physiolgical range; ii) the probiotic supplementation decreased protein oxidation and the chronic inflammatory marker TNF-α; and iii) the

model of exercise did not induce oxidative stress but increased concentrations of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 in this cohort of endurance trained men. Markers of intestinal permeability Zonulin is regarded as a phyiological modulator of intercellular Levetiracetam tight junctions and a surrogate marker of impaired gut barrier [19, 35–37]. Beside liver cells, intestinal cells can synthesize zonulin and the zonulin system can be activated by dietary proteins (especially gliadin) or enteric bacteria [21, 38]. We can exclude a dietary influence on the observed changes in zonulin concentrations as our subjects followed strictly all dietary instructions and did not change their diet during the study period. To our best knowledge this study reports for the first time that probiotic supplementation can reduce zonulin concentrations in feces of trained men. The observed reduction is all the more remarkable as mean concentrations were slightly above normal at baseline (ref. range: < 30 ng .