Prevention of chronic gastritis by fermented milks made with exopolysaccharide-producing Streptococcus thermophilus strains

Abstract

Acetyl-salicylic acid (ASA) is a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory/analgesic drug, which may cause gastritis or stomach ulcers if intensively employed. Exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing lactic acid bacteria have been claimed to induce immunostimulatory/antiulcer effects in the host. This study investigated the potential preventive effect of fermented milks (FM) with EPS-producing Streptococcus thermophilus strains (CRL 1190 and CRL 804) on an in vivo model of chronic gastritis. Fermented milks (2 EPS(+) and 1 EPS(-), separately) were fed to BALB/c mice for 7 d before inducing gastritis with ASA (400 mg/kg of body weight per day for 10 d; gastritis group, n = 5). Appropriate control groups (ASA administered but not given FM, n = 5; and ASA not administered but given FM) were included in this study. Gastric inflammatory activity was evaluated through the stomach's histology and the number of IFNgamma(+) and IL-10(+) cytokine-producing cells in the gastric mucosa. Only mice preventively treated with the EPS-producing Strep. thermophilus CRL 1190 FM and later administered ASA did not develop gastritis, showing a conserved gastric mucosa structure similar to those of healthy mice. A marked decrease of IFNgamma(+)- and increase of IL-10(+)-producing cells compared with the gastritis group mice were observed. Purified EPS from Strep. thermophilus CRL 1190 resuspended in autoclaved milk was also effective for gastritis prevention. The EPS-protein interaction might be responsible for the observed gastroprotective effect; such interactions may be affected by industrial manufacturing conditions. The results indicate that the FM with Strep. thermophilus CRL 1190 or its EPS could be used in novel functional foods for preventing chronic gastritis.

Food and Health Applications of Exopolysaccharides produced by Lactic acid Bacteria

“…Purified EPS from S. thermophilus CRL 1190 was found to be effective for preventing chronic gastritis [63]. The authors justified that the EPS-protein interaction might be responsible for the observed gastroprotective effect; such interactions may be affected by industrial manufacturing conditions.…”

“…It is not likely that EPS serves as a food reserve for the bacteria producing them, because most slimeforming bacteria are not capable of metabolizing the EPS they produce [61]. Apart from protection, few studies on EPS suggested that EPS produced by specific LAB could exert health beneficial effects through immunomodulation or by other means [36,62,63], some of these observations are discussed below.…”

Characterization of Exopolysaccharides Produced by Thermophilic Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Tropical Fruits of Thailand

“…9,10) EPSs have been shown to benefit human health by their immunomodulation, anti-gastritis, anti-ulcer, and anti-virus activities. [11][12][13] We have shown that P. pentosaceus LP28 has the strain-specific EPS biosynthetic gene cluster, 14) and intake of the strain is effective to improve the high fat diet-induced obesity and fatty liver of the mice. 6) Furthermore, the strain is also useful to reduce body fat and body weight in human clinical study.…”

New Approaches in Gastritis Treatment

“…(1994) reported anti-ulcer effects of the cell wall polysaccharide of bifidobacteria, lactobacilli and streptococci strains, which were attributed to the high rhamnose content of the polymers (> 60%). Rodríguez et al (2009Rodríguez et al ( , 2010 reported the first evidences on the beneficial effects of both the EPS-producing LAB strains and the biopolymer on gastritis experimental animal models using acetyl salicylic acid ( The strains CRL 1190 and CRL 87 also produced capsular polysaccharide in addition to the slime EPS in milk and was able to form ropy milk cultures similar to CRL 638, while the strain CRL 804 was negative for both the capsular and ropy phenotypes (Mozzi et. al., 2006).…”