Science & Technologies Volume III, Number 1, 2013 Medicine 326 LIPID PROFILE OF RATS AFTER DIET ENRICHED WITH FRUCTOSE AND POTENTIAL PROBIOTIC STRAINS OF THE GENUS LACTOBACILLUS. Pavlina Teneva 1 , Katya Kichukova 1 , Ivelina Dobreva 1 , Tanya Tacheva 2 , Mariya Yakovlieva 3 , Stanisava Mihaylova 3 , Rositsa Tropcheva 4 , Ana Tolekova 3 , Svetla Danova 4 , Tatyana Vlaykova 2 1 Medical Collage, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 2 Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 3 Dept. Physiology, Pathological Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical Faculty, Trakia Univesity, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 4 The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria ЛИПИДЕН ПРОФИЛ НА ПЛЪХОВЕ ПРИ ДИЕТА ОБОГАТЕНА С ФРУКТОЗА И ПОТЕНЦИАЛНИ ПРОБИОТИЧНИ ЩАМOВЕ ОТ РОД LACTOBACILLUS. Павлина Тенева 1 , Катя Кичукова 1 , Ивелина Добрева 1 , Таня Тачева 2 , Мария Яковлиева 3 , Станислава Михайлова 3 , Росица Тропчева 4 , Ана Толекова 3 , Светла Данова 4 , Татяна Влайкова 2 . 1 Медицински колеж, Тракийски университет, Стара Загора 2 Кат. Химия и биохимия, 3 Кат. Физиология, патофизиология и фармакология, Медицински факултет, Тракийски университет, Стара Загора 4 Департамент по обща микробиология, Институт по микробиология «Стефан Ангелов», БАН, София SUMMARY It has been well documented that gastrointestinal microflora is capable of prominent effect on the absorption, metabolism and storage of nutrients. An important approach for modulating the contents and activity of gut microflora is the admission of probiotics. There are several studies describing the positive influence of probiotic strains belonging to different genus and species to the serum glucose level and lipid profile in experimental animals and diseases models and in human. In this respect the aim of the current study was to explore the effect of two new potential probiotic strains of the genus Lactobacillus (Lactobacillus brevis 15 and Lactobacillus plantarum 13) on the lipid profile in rats on short-time fructose-rich diet. We performed an experiment for 8 weeks with 28 two months old Wistar rats which were assigned randomly to receive standard diet (Control group), fructose-rich diet (Fructose group), standard diet with probiotics 2 times per week (Probiotic group) and fructose-rich diet with probiotics 2 times per week (Probiotics+fructose group). Results: The new potential probiotic strains at the applied doses were very well tolerated by the experimental animas independently on the diet regiment. At the end of the experimental period (at the 9th week) we found that animals on fructose + probiotics diet had the highest levels of TAG compared to all other three groups (p<0.05), followed by those on fructose diet. The animals of control and probiotics groups had commensurable levels of TAG. At the 9 th week the total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol of all experimental groups were significantly higher than those of the controls, although none of the values had exceeded the referent levels. Conclusions: Based on the results of our current study we may suggest that strains Lactobacillus brevis 15 and Lactobacillus plantarum 13 after 8-weeks administration at the particular doses two-times per week are very well tolerated and had some effect on the lipid metabolism. However the results of the current experimental conditions do not provide convincing evidence for beneficial effect of those strains on the lipid profile, possibly due to the relatively short period of the experiment and the rare admission of the probiotics.