Kuttappan Deepa, Muttathukonam Sulthana Humayoon, Amalaradjou Mary Anne
Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut, 17 Manter Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
AIMS Microbiol. 2025 May 28;11(2):369-387. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2025017. eCollection 2025.
Chronic inflammation is identified to be an underlying pathophysiology in different conditions including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Since the aberrant interaction of the mucosal immune system with the dysbiotic flora has been reported to contribute to IBD development, probiotics have been studied for potential prophylaxis and treatment. In this regard, fermented dairy foods are a rich source of probiotics and bioactive compounds. However, limited studies have determined the impact of fermented dairy products in the context of chronic inflammation. In particular, a potential role for dairy starter cultures is not well studied. Hence, in this study we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of two cheese starter cultures ( subsp. M58 and TA 61) in comparison with commercial probiotic strains ( subsp. BB-12, LA-5) using the Cmax-induced Caco-2 inflammation model. Specifically, we characterized their ability to attenuate inflammatory response via modulation of IL-8 secretion, NF-κB activation, barrier integrity (TEER), and tight junction gene expression. Overall, pre-exposure to the starter cultures before Cmax treatment significantly reduced the activation and nuclear translocation of NF-κB, compared to cytokine control (P < 0.05). Further, the reduction in pNF-κB was found to be associated with a significant reduction in IL 8 secretion (P < 0.05). Moreover, the cultures protected the Caco-2 monolayer from inflammation-induced increase in permeability by upregulating the genes associated with ZO-1 and occludin production. Furthermore, the protective effect of the starter cultures was comparable to that of the commercial probiotics with known anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, cheese starter cultures could be a potential strategy against chronic gut inflammation.
慢性炎症被认为是包括炎症性肠病（IBD）在内的不同病症的潜在病理生理学基础。由于据报道黏膜免疫系统与失调菌群的异常相互作用会导致IBD的发展，因此人们对益生菌进行了潜在预防和治疗方面的研究。在这方面，发酵乳制品是益生菌和生物活性化合物的丰富来源。然而，仅有有限的研究确定了发酵乳制品在慢性炎症背景下的影响。特别是，乳制品发酵剂的潜在作用尚未得到充分研究。因此，在本研究中，我们使用Cmax诱导的Caco-2炎症模型，评估了两种奶酪发酵剂（嗜热栖热放线菌亚种M58和TA 61）与商业益生菌菌株（动物双歧杆菌亚种BB-12、嗜酸乳杆菌LA-5）相比的抗炎作用。具体而言，我们通过调节IL-8分泌、NF-κB激活、屏障完整性（跨上皮电阻，TEER）和紧密连接基因表达来表征它们减弱炎症反应的能力。总体而言，与细胞因子对照相比，在Cmax处理前预先接触发酵剂可显著降低NF-κB的激活和核转位（P < 0.05）。此外，发现pNF-κB的降低与IL-8分泌的显著减少有关（P < 0.05）。此外，这些培养物通过上调与紧密连接蛋白1（ZO-1）和闭合蛋白产生相关的基因，保护Caco-2单层免受炎症诱导的通透性增加的影响。此外，发酵剂的保护作用与具有已知抗炎特性的商业益生菌相当。因此，奶酪发酵剂可能是对抗慢性肠道炎症的一种潜在策略。
