The role of beneficial bacteria wall elasticity in regulating innate immune response

Abstract

BackgroundProbiotics have great potential to contribute to development of healthy dietary regimes, preventive care, and an integrated approach to immunity-related disease management. The bacterial wall is a dynamic entity, depending on many components and playing an essential role in modulating immune response. The impact of cell wall elasticity on the beneficial effects of probiotic strains has not been sufficiently studied.The aim was to investigate the effect of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria strains on phagocytic system cells (macrophages) as related to bacterial wall elasticity, estimated using atomic force microscopy (AFM).MethodsWe conducted studies on Balb/c line mice 18–20 g in weight using lyophilized strains of LAB—Lactobacillus acidophilus IMV B-7279, Lactobacillus casei IMV B-7280, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus IMV B-7281, and bifidobacteria—Bifidobacterium animalis VKL and Bifidobacterium animalis VKB. We cultivated the macrophages obtained from the peritoneal cavity of mice individually with the strains of LAB and bifidobacteria and evaluated their effect on macrophages, oxygen-dependent bactericidal activity, nitric oxide production, and immunoregulatory cytokines. We used AFM scanning to estimate bacterial cell wall elasticity.ResultsAll strains had a stimulating effect on the functional activity of macrophages and ability to produce NO/NO2 in vitro. Lactobacilli strains increased the production of IL-12 and IFN-γ in vitro. The AFM demonstrated different cell wall elasticity levels in various strains of LAB and bifidobacteria. The rigidity of the cell walls among lactobacilli was distributed as follows: Lactobacillus acidophilus IMV B-7279 > Lactobacillus casei IMV B-7280 > Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus IMV B-7281; among the strains of bifidobacteria: B. animalis VKB > B. animalis VKL. Probiotic strain survival in the macrophages depended on the bacterial cell wall elasticity and on the time of their joint cultivation.ConclusionLAB and bifidobacteria strains stimulate immune-modulatory cytokines and active oxygen and nitrogen oxide compound production in macrophages. Strains with a more elastic cell wall according to AFM data demonstrated higher resistance to intracellular digestion in macrophages and higher level of their activation.AFM might be considered as a fast and accurate method to assess parameters of probiotic strain cell wall to predict their immune-modulatory properties.

Probiotics and immunity: provisional role for personalized diets and disease prevention

“…Healthy diet and nutrition are the very focus of the European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (EPMA), the main promoter of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM), and belong to the prioritized medical fields for long-term strategy of created multidisciplinary platform for progressing from “disease care” to “health care”: “advancing participatory medicine”, “well-being” concepts, and integrated approach. A major target of this approach is the effective management of immunity-related disorders, such as inflammation, atopy, asthma, musculoskeletal disorders, liver fibrosis, diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2D), metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), neurodegenerative diseases (NDD), atherosclerosis, and cancer [ 1 – 4 ].…”

Novel functional food for prevention of non-communicable diseases

“…In addition, these strains of lactobacilli are characterized by specific immunomodulatory properties studied earlier in experiments on mice of the BALB / C line [3] and synergistic properties [6]. In similar studies, we have shown the ability of probiotic microorganisms to stimulate the local immune response and mechanisms that provide it [15,19].…”

“…According to classical views [13,19], functional foods include food and beverages whose use leads to regulation of a number of physiological processes of the human body to prevent the emergence of human diseases including (partially) caused by ISSN 1996-4536 immune-metabolic disorders of the body. Modern studies of human microbiota and its functional properties (so-called function) open up today the possibilities for constructing a new generation of FFPs [24].…”

Immunobiotics are the Novel Biotech Drugs with Antibacterial and Immunomodulatory Properties

“…However, more effective activator of cytokine production (IFN-γ and IL-12) in vitro among LAB strains appeared strains with more rigid cell wall. It is proved that L. acidophilus IMV B-7279, L. casei IMV B-7280, B. animalis VKL and B. animalis VKB is biocompatible, which allows to combine these strains of LAB and bifidobacteria with different degrees of the cell wall rigidity in different composition, thereby getting probiotic preparation with specified properties [20].…”