The Anti-inflammatory Effects of Probiotic-produced Exopolysaccharide

Abstract

The present study isolated seven different kinds of probiotics from various food sources and identified them with Bacillus sp. and Lactobacillus sp. by 16S rDNA sequencing. Their supernatants were prepared after a 24 hr culture, and their effects on nitric oxide (NO) production in mouse RAW 264.7 cells were investigated. Among the treated samples, the culture supernatants of two strains (Bacillus sp. FG-1 and Lactobacillus sp. FG-6) significantly decreased NO production in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, they dramatically reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory genes such as COX-2, iNOS, and TNF-α. To examine whether exopolysaccharide (EPS) is responsible for the anti-inflammatory effects of probiotics, EPS was purified from the culture supernatants of Bacillus sp. FG-1 and Lactobacillus sp. FG-6 strains. The EPS treatment produced by FG-1 and FG-6 strains decreased NO production in a dose-dependent manner in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells without affecting cell viability, while also reducing pro-inflammatory gene expression. Overall, these results suggest that EPS might be one of the key molecules responsible for the anti-inflammatory effects of probiotics.Key words : Anti-inflammation, exopolysaccharide, probiotics, RAW 264.7 cell, 16S rDNA *Corresponding author *Tel : +82-54-820-5798, Fax : +82-54-820-7705 *E-mail : jsk@anu.ac.kr This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.