Effects of kefir lactic acid bacteria-derived postbiotic components on high fat diet-induced gut microbiota and obesity

[Display omitted] •Postbiotics of kefir lactic acid bacteria include surface layer protein (SLP) and EPS.•Combination of postbiotics and prebiotics ameliorated obesity parameters in mice.•Combination affected the abundances of obesogenic and SCFA producing gut bacteria.•Gut bacteria was negatively associated with expression of adipocyte genes.•SLP only showed a modest effect compared to the supplementation of combination. Cellular components, surface layer protein (SLP) and exopolysaccharides (EPS) of postbiotic lactic bacteria (PLAB) can rehabilitate high-fat diet-induced dysbiosis and obese characteristic gut microbiome. However, it is not clear whether and how PLAB components affect gut microbiota and specifically adipocyte gene expression. Furthermore, SLP and EPS of PLAB in combination with polyphenolics of prebiotic wine grape seed flour (GSF) may have greater benefit on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity and gut microbiota imbalance. To investigate interactions, C57BL/6 mice were fed a HFD and orally administered saline (CON), 250 mg/Kg EPS, or 120 mg/Kg SLP or saline with fed 2% GSF (GSF) or combination (42 mg/Kg EPS + 20 mg/Kg SLP + 0.5% GSF; ALL). There were significant reductions of HFD-induced body weight gain, adipose weight, serum triglyceride, and insulin resistance by the SLP and ALL diets compared to CON, with the most profound effect by ALL. ALL significantly affected the distribution of intestinal bacterial genus and species particularly those involved in production of short chain fatty acid (SCFA) and anti-obesogenic action. Microarray analysis from adipose tissue showed that ALL significantly affected expression of genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis, autophagy, inflammatory response, immune response, brown adipose tissue development and response to lipoteichoic acid and peptidoglycan (p