Probiotics modulate Akt differently
One of the challenges we are facing is our child’s intolerance to yogurt. Consuming yogurt, particularly in the morning, triggers increased anxiety and OCD symptoms within 30 minutes.
This issue appeared to be a mystery, but I recently made a breakthrough. After observing my child’s regression following yogurt consumption over the past two days, I began to investigate whether probiotics play a role in regulating the PI3K/Akt pathway in humans. This enquiry was particularly relevant given my child’s previous severe adverse reaction to L. Rhamnosus GG and anything else that contains it.
Today I discovered a research article that explicitly outlines which probiotics can upregulate or downregulate the Pi3K-Akt pathway:
For example, several findings document a possible relationship between the consumption of probiotic strains and their derived metabolites, and the downregulation of mTOR signaling, resulting in improvement of allergic responses.
In line with this hypothesis, an important in vivo study conducted by Jeong et al., looking at the effectiveness of Lactobacillus plantarum KY1032 in controlling lipidemia in rats, discovered that the oral consumption of this probiotic can result in concomitant reduction of Akt and mTOR phosphorylation.
Similarly, the suppressing effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) strain on the phosphorylation levels of Akt/mTOR and extracellular-signal regulated kinases1/2 (ERK1/2) has been demonstrated in parallel with symptom improvement in animal models of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). (R1)
(the paper contains a table with probiotics and their effect on Akt - check it out!)
I suspect this can explain adverse reaction of people with tics / OCD to probiotics and foods that contain them - Akt inhibition, which leads to increased oxidative stress.
Remarkable, that L. reuteri is often rarely found in autistic kids' microbiota, while it has stimulatory effect on Akt protein.
I put two lists here for our convenience. Please note the bacteria of the same species epithet but different subspecies show different effect on Akt.
Probiotics that upregulate Akt
L. pentosus var. plantarum C29
E. faecium L-15
L. paracasei TD062 (Increasing the level of IRS-2, PI3K and Akt and decreasing the level of GSK-3β)
_B. breve_C50 (BbC50sn)
B. breve B-3
B. animalis subsp. animalis (IM386)
B. animalis subsp. lactis BI-04
B. lactis Bb-12
L. paragasseri K7
C. butyricum MIYAIRI 588
C. butyricum
L. reuteri GMNL-263
L. reuteri ZJ617 (Enhancing mTOR signaling pathway expression, antioxidant activities and tight junction, and attenuating apoptosis and autophagy)
L. reuteri (Elevation of active-β-catenin and TGFβ1 expression, and PI3K/Akt phosphorylation)
L. plantarum H31
L. plantarum WCFS1
Probiotics that inhibit Akt
L. curvatus HY7601
L. salivarius AR809
L. salivarius Ren
L. mesenteroides
VSL#3
L. casei Zhang (LCZ)
L. casei
L. johnsonii N6.2 (Reduction of mTORC1-activating phosphorylation of pAKT-T308 and pAKT-S473)
B. animalis subsp. lactis DSM10140
P. kudriavzevii
K. marxianus
L. acidophilus NCFM (Down-regulation of Akt1)
L. rhamnosus GG (Suppression of PI3K/Akt signal pathway over-activation; Down-regulation of p38 MAPK and up-regulation of PI3K/Akt cascade). This one has contradictory results.
L. rhamnosus (Down-regulation of PI3K/mTOR/NF-κB pathways)
L. fermentum L930BB
L. fermentum
E. faecalis
B. licheniformis SC08
B. amyloliquefaciens SC06
B. coagulans 09.712
S. cerevisiae (Down-regulation of p-Akt1)
L. plantarum KY1032
L. plantarum