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Multi-strain bacterial combination mitigates pelvic irradiation-induced gut damage by preserving gut integrity, inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis
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  • Published: 15 April 2026

Multi-strain bacterial combination mitigates pelvic irradiation-induced gut damage by preserving gut integrity, inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis

  • Babu Santhi Venkidesh1 na1,
  • Meghana Acharya2 na1,
  • Rekha K. Narasimhamurthy1,3,
  • Thokur S. Murali4,
  • Bola Sadashiva Satish Rao1 &
  • …
  • Kamalesh Dattaram Mumbrekar  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1888-62521 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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Subjects

  • Diseases
  • Gastroenterology
  • Microbiology

Abstract

Pelvic irradiation effectively treats pelvic malignancies, but its side effects can be challenging, causing intestinal damage. Alterations in the gut environment can disrupt the microbiota balance, affecting key microbial communities essential for maintaining gut health. Because the gut microbiota helps maintain gut health, bacterial supplementation may reduce radiation-induced gut toxicity. This study explores the mechanism by which a multi-strain bacterial combination comprising Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Streptococcus mitigates pelvic irradiation-induced gut toxicity. Male Sprague–Dawley rats were orally administered a multi-strain bacterial combination throughout the study period or after radiation exposure. Changes in intestinal morphology, integrity, fibrosis, inflammation, and apoptosis were assessed. The prophylactic-therapeutic administration of the bacterial combination effectively preserved villus height, crypt depth, goblet cell count, and overall gut barrier integrity. Furthermore, prophylactic treatment significantly reduced radiation-induced fibrosis, inflammation, and the expression of apoptotic markers in both the jejunum and colon. In contrast, therapeutic bacterial combination treatment was less effective, suggesting that preventive administration is more beneficial in mitigating radiation-induced gastrointestinal damage. Thus, this study underscores the efficacy of pre-radiation bacterial supplementation in protecting the gut from radiation injury, with potential implications for improved patient quality of life.

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Data availability

The data can be requested from the corresponding author at [kamalesh.m@manipal.edu](mailto:kamalesh.m@manipal.edu).

Abbreviations

GIT:

Gastrointestinal tract (GIT)

BS:

Bacterial supplementation (BS)

C:

Control

R:

Radiation

PR-TR:

Prophylactic-therapeutic

TR:

Therapeutic

Gy:

Gray

PAS:

Periodic acid staining

IHC:

Immunohistochemistry

TJ:

Tight junction

ZO-1:

Zonula occludens-1

IL-6:

Interleukin-6

INF-γ:

Interferon gamma

Bax:

Bcl2 associated X protein

Bcl2:

B- cell leukemia/ lymphoma 2 protein

ELISA:

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

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Acknowledgements

VBS would like to thank MAHE for the Dr. TMA Pai Ph.D. Fellowship. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Jackson Rodrigues for helping in the histopathology experiment, Ms. U Sangeetha Shenoy for helping in IHC scoring, Ms. Neena George & Ms. Amoolya Kandettu for their help with the molecular biology section and Mrs. Aswathy S Nair for helping in ELISA. We express our sincere gratitude to the technical support team of the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, for their help in conducting the radiation experiment.

Funding

Open access funding provided by Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. This work was supported by the MAHE Intra-Mural grant [MAHE/CDS/PHD/IMF/2019].

Author information

Author notes

  1. Babu Santhi Venkidesh and Meghana Acharya have equal contribution.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Biology & Toxicology, Manipal School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

    Babu Santhi Venkidesh, Rekha K. Narasimhamurthy, Bola Sadashiva Satish Rao & Kamalesh Dattaram Mumbrekar

  2. Manipal School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

    Meghana Acharya

  3. Central Research Laboratory, Nitte (Deemed to Be University), KS Hegde Medical Academy (KSHEMA), Mangalore, India

    Rekha K. Narasimhamurthy

  4. Department of Public Health Genomics, Manipal School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

    Thokur S. Murali

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  1. Babu Santhi Venkidesh
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Contributions

Kamalesh Dattaram Mumbrekar & Thokur Sreepathy Murali: conceptualized and designed the study; provided significant comments and revisions to the article. Babu Santhi Venkidesh: maintained the animals; performed and analysed the experiments; and wrote the manuscript. Meghana Acharya: Performed and analysed the experiments; and wrote the manuscript (equal). Rekha Koravadi Narasimhamurthy: Provided significant contributions to the article. Bola Sadashiva Satish Rao: provided significant comments and revisions to the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kamalesh Dattaram Mumbrekar.

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Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, India (IAEC/KMC/84/2020).

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Venkidesh, B.S., Acharya, M., Narasimhamurthy, R.K. et al. Multi-strain bacterial combination mitigates pelvic irradiation-induced gut damage by preserving gut integrity, inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47773-3

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  • Received: 19 July 2025

  • Accepted: 02 April 2026

  • Published: 15 April 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47773-3

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Keywords

  • Radiation-induced gut toxicity
  • Radioprotection
  • Gut microbiota modulation
  • Multi-strain probiotics
  • Gastrointestinal fibrosis
  • Anti-inflammatory mechanisms
  • Quality of life improvement
  • Microbiome-based therapies
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