Evaluation of Growth, Viability, Lactic Acid Production and Anti-Infective Effects of ATCC 9595 in Bacuri Juice ().

Fruit juices have been emerging as excellent vehicles for development of probiotic products due to their nutritional properties and presence of bioactive compounds. This work evaluated the growth and viability of ATCC 23271 and ATCC 9595 in bacuri juice ( Mart., Clusiaceae). Both strains were able to grow in bacuri juice, without any supplementation. Viability was kept after 28 days of storage; however, growth was significantly higher for ATCC 9595 (7.40 ± 0.04 Log CFU/mL). Following this, the effects of bacterial inoculum and pulp concentration on growth and lactic acid production by ATCC 9595 were investigated using a central composite rotational design. The inoculum concentration was the main factor for obtaining the most favorable relation between growth and organic acid production (G/pH ratio). Among the tested conditions, those used in assay 6 allowed the best G/pH ratio (2.13) and higher lactic acid production (4.14 g/L). In these conditions, ATCC 9595 grown in bacuri juice showed the same resistance towards acidification or addition of lysozyme than when cultivated in MRS. Finally, the anti-infective effects of fermented and non-fermented juices were analyzed using larvae infected by enteroaggregative 042. The pre-treatment with supernatants of both fermented and non-fermented juices significantly increased the survival of infected larvae. However, only the -fermented juice had protective effects when inoculated 2 h after infection. Collectively, the results obtained in this research allowed the basis for the development of a non-dairy probiotic product from bacuri juice.