## 4 Discussion  
With the improvement of living standards, concern over health has increased. _Lactobacillus_ species, which are widely present in the intestinal tract, have important physiologic functions and are key components of the human body. Local and international studies have increasingly shown that _Lactobacillus_ is closely associated with health and can thus help people improve their health. However, to exhibit positive health effects in the body, _Lactobacillus_ should meet a group of requirements. Major requirements include resistance to stress caused by gastric juice and bile salt in the gastrointestinal tract [27]. In the current study, the experiment using pH 3.0 simulated gastric juice and 0.3% bile salt in vitro indicated that LF and LP, which were isolated from Chinese pickles, showed good tolerance. Therefore, both were able to maintain their cell viability and provide health benefits to the body, and the advantages might correlate with its adaptive ability in Chinese pickles. Figure 9: IL-1ß (**A**), TNF-\(\alpha\) (**B**), IRS-1 (**C**), GLUT-4 (**D**), SREBP-1c (**E**), and PPARy (**F**) gene expression levels in the liver. L-LF: live LF group; HK-LF: heat-killed LF group; L-LP: live LP group; HK-LP: heat-killed LP group. ## \(P<0.01\) compared with Normal, **\(P<0.01\)** compared with Model, and \(\blacktriangleleft\)\(P<0.01\). Diabetes is a global disease that seriously harms human health and severely affects the quality of life of patients. The incidence rate of diabetes has gradually increased worldwide. Thus, its mechanism has to be studied, and new therapeutic approaches have to be explored. Meanwhile, various animal models of diabetes have been developed, among which are murine models with diabetes induced by a high-fat diet combined with STZ to better simulate the pathogenesis of human type 2 diabetes and clinical manifestations. Diabetes can generally lead to body weight loss and a significant rise in blood glucose. On the basis of the animal model in this study, we found that the body weight was significantly lower, whereas the OGTT and AUC of Model were significantly higher than those of Normal. The result was consistent with the findings in previous studies. After treatment, L-LF, HK-LF, L-LP, and HK-LP showed markedly increased body weight and significantly decreased OGTT and AUC relative to those of Model. Notably, the blood glucose levels of L-LF (or L-LP) were significantly decreased relative to those of HK-LF (or HK-LP). These results implied that LF and LP could increase body weight and glucose tolerance in mice with diabetes and that these effects were related to cellular components and their activities. The liver is an important site for glucose metabolism. Thus, the liver plays an important role in the body. Research indicates that diabetes is subject to a considerable variety of complications, one of which is liver dysfunction. In this study, a view of a pathological section of the liver under a microscope revealed serious hepatocellular necrosis, inflammatory cell infiltration, and irregular arrangement of the liver cells of Model. After treatment, L-LF, HK-LF, L-LP, and HK-LP exhibited markedly improved pathological characteristics. In addition, Model showed significantly higher ALT and AST levels in serum relative to those of Normal; after treatment, L-LF, HK-LF, L-LP, and HK-LP showed significantly lower ALT and AST levels than those of Model. The ALT and AST levels of L-LF (or L-LP) were also significantly decreased relative to those of HK-LF (or HK-LP). These results showed that liver function was damaged in mice with diabetes, and L-LF, HK-LF, L-LP, and HK-LP exhibited significant protective effects against liver damage in mice with diabetes. Previous studies have shown that MDA was linked to oxidative stress, TNF-\(\alpha\) was associated with inflammation, and GSP, INS, and GC in serum could reflect the severity of diabetes. These findings indicated their important role in diabetes.