{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T18:06:10Z","timestamp":1791396370933,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,16]],"date-time":"2025-01-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736985600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency","award":["RS-2024-00419713"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2024-00419713"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Early-life malnutrition adversely affects nearly all organ systems, resulting in multiple physiological adaptations, including growth restriction and muscle and bone loss. Although there is growing evidence that probiotics effectively improve systemic growth under malnourished conditions in different animal models, our knowledge of the beneficial effects of probiotics on various organs is limited. Here, we show that <jats:italic>Lactobacillus plantarum<\/jats:italic> strain WJL (Lp<jats:sup>WJL<\/jats:sup>) can mitigate skeletal muscle and bone loss in protein-malnourished juvenile mice. Mice on prenatal day 21 were fed a protein-malnourished (P-MAL) diet with or without Lp<jats:sup>WJL<\/jats:sup> supplementation for six weeks. Compared to mice on the P-MAL diet alone, Lp<jats:sup>WJL<\/jats:sup> supplementation significantly increased muscle mass and size, resulting in enhanced muscle strength and endurance capacity. Furthermore, Lp<jats:sup>WJL<\/jats:sup> supplementation induced the expression of the key growth factor IGF-1 while decreasing muscle atrophy markers such as Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1, indicating potential mechanisms by which protein malnutrition-induced muscle wasting is counteracted. Additionally, Lp<jats:sup>WJL<\/jats:sup> supplementation alleviated the reduction in cortical bone thickness and the deterioration of trabecular bone microstructure in the femur. Taken together, these results indicate that Lp<jats:sup>WJL<\/jats:sup> can protect against skeletal muscle atrophy and compromised bone microarchitecture caused by protein malnutrition, providing novel insights into the potential therapeutic applications of probiotics for treating malnutrition-related disorders.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0317197","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,16]],"date-time":"2025-01-16T18:51:43Z","timestamp":1737053503000},"page":"e0317197","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Protective effects of Lactobacillus plantarum strain against protein malnutrition-induced muscle atrophy and bone loss in juvenile mice"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1684-3208","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hyerim","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sung-Hee","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kyung-Ah","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0317197.ref001","article-title":"Malnutrition: the silent pandemic","author":"HE Mark","year":"2020","journal-title":"British Medical Journal Publishing Group"},{"key":"pone.0317197.ref002","author":"WHO","year":"2020"},{"issue":"9609","key":"pone.0317197.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"340","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(07)61692-4","article-title":"Maternal and child undernutrition: consequences for adult health and human capital","volume":"371","author":"CG Victora","year":"2008","journal-title":"The lancet"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0317197.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"624","DOI":"10.7861\/clinmedicine.10-6-624","article-title":"Malnutrition: causes and consequences","volume":"10","author":"J Saunders","year":"2010","journal-title":"Clinical medicine"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0317197.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2020-003161","article-title":"Severe malnutrition or famine exposure in childhood and cardiometabolic non-communicable disease later in life: a systematic review","volume":"6","author":"K Grey","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMJ global health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0317197.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2017.67","article-title":"Severe childhood malnutrition","volume":"3","author":"ZA Bhutta","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nature reviews Disease primers"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0317197.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"386","DOI":"10.1016\/j.it.2016.04.003","article-title":"Immune dysfunction as a cause and consequence of malnutrition","volume":"37","author":"CD Bourke","year":"2016","journal-title":"Trends in immunology"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0317197.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e105017","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0105017","article-title":"The immune system in children with malnutrition\u2014a systematic review","volume":"9","author":"MJH Rytter","year":"2014","journal-title":"PloS one"},{"issue":"15","key":"pone.0317197.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8815","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23158815","article-title":"Postnatal protein intake as a determinant of skeletal muscle structure and function in mice\u2014A pilot study.","volume":"23","author":"I Giakoumaki","year":"2022","journal-title":"International Journal of Molecular Sciences"},{"key":"pone.0317197.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102980","DOI":"10.1016\/j.redox.2023.102980","article-title":"Lifelong dietary protein restriction accelerates skeletal muscle loss and reduces muscle fibre size by impairing proteostasis and mitochondrial homeostasis","volume":"69","author":"U Ersoy","year":"2024","journal-title":"Redox biology"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0317197.ref011","first-page":"240","article-title":"Early life undernutrition reduces maximum treadmill running capacity in adulthood in mice. 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