Figure 1.

Effects of the oral administration of L. fermentum (Lf) strains on pentobarbital-induced sleep in mice. (a) The experimental design; mice were orally administrated phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or 10⁹ colony-forming units (CFU) of Lf strains, including PS150^TM, PCC, and ATCC 14931^T, for 14 consecutive days. On experimental day 14, a pentobarbital (50 mg/kg)-induced sleep test was performed, and the sleep latency (n = 10~12) (b), sleep duration (n = 10~12) (c), and recovery time (n = 4~5) (d) of mice were recorded. Diphenhydramine (DIPH) (20 mg/kg) was introduced 30 min before the test. Veh refers to the vehicle control group. Data are expressed as mean ± standard error of mean (SEM) and were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. * p < 0.05, compared with the indicated groups.