No abstract

Improvement of the intestinal environment by administration of LKM512 yogurt was examined using polyamine, haptoglobin and mutagenicity as indexes which directly reflect the health condition of the host. The concentration of spermine in feces increased significantly by 3-fold (P<0.05) at week 2 of administration of LKM512 yogurt compared with before administration, and that of putrescine, spermidine, and cadaverine also tended to increase with administration of LKM512 yogurt. The haptoglobin content in feces decreased significantly (P<0.05) at week 2 of administration of LKM512 yogurt, and it showed a negative correlation with the polyamine content, indicating that acute intestinal inflammation was suppressed. Fecal mutagenicity was measured using fecal extract and fecal precipitate. Both preparations showed similar significant decreases (P<0.05) by the administration of LKM512 yogurt, as well as a negative correlation with polyamine content. This result indicated that antimutagenicity due to administration of LKM512 yogurt was not based on binding of the mutagen to the bacterial cell wall. Many reports have suggested that polyamines increased by the administration of LKM512 yogurt led to inhibition of inflammation and antimutagenicity in the intestinal tract.

Significant amounts of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were found in amyloid fibril preparations. Using two-dimensional electrophoresis to fractionate GAG mixtures, we quantified and identified for the first time the GAGs of the fibrils from carpal synovium of patients with amyloid associated with chronic hemodialysis. The total GAG content was small, but the GAG distribution (high relative content of chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid and lack of the other GAGs) was unique, unlike that for the other amyloid fibril preparations. The amyloid-rich heart, liver, and spleen tissues, as well as the fibrils isolated from these tissues of patients with systemic forms (primary amyloid and secondary amyloid) of amyloid disease, were also analyzed for GAGs. Fibrils from heart tissue of a patient with primary amyloidosis, now examined for the first time, contained four major GAGs (chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, hyaluronic acid, and heparan sulfate).

The adhesive property to the intestinal mucin of Bifidobacterium lactis LKM512, B. longum, B. breve, B. bifidum, B. adolescentis, B. infantis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides distasonis, Eubacterium aerofaciens, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, and Lactobacillus acidophilus were examined. Adhesive rate of LKM512 to the mucin was significantly (p < 0.05, 0.01, or 0.001) stronger than the other strains from 2 to 100 time. Though the adhesive property of many strains was almost same to the mucin of 20-year-old and 50-year-old generations, in case of 4-month-old was different. Adhesive inhibitory effect of C. perfringens to the mucin by LKM512 was examined. Under the condition that LKM512 was 108/ml and that C. perfringens was 106/ml, adhesion of C. perfringens to the mucin was inhibited at 99.6%, when LKM512 adhered in advance. There was the strong inhibition of adhesion at 74.0%, when C. perfringens adhered to mucin in advance. Thus, LKM512 can inhibit the adhesion of harmful bacteria to the intestinal mucin, the possibility of using as a probiotic strain has to be verified.

No abstract