Probiotic ingestion is recommended as a preventive approach to maintain the balance of the intestinal microbiota and to enhance the human well-being. During the whole life of each individual, the gut microbiota composition could be altered by lifestyle, diet, antibiotic therapies and other stress conditions, which may lead to acute and chronic disorders. Hence, probiotics can be administered for the prevention or treatment of some disorders, including lactose malabsorption, acute diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, necrotizing enterocolitis and mild forms of inflammatory bowel disease. The probiotic-mediated effect is an important issue that needs to be addressed in relation to strain-specific probiotic properties. In this work, the probiotic properties of new Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains were screened, and their effects in vitro were evaluated. They were screened for probiotic properties by determining their tolerance to low pH and to bile salts, antibiotic sensitivity, antimicrobial activity and vitamin B8, B9 and B12 production, and by considering their ability to increase the antioxidant potential and to modulate the inflammatory status of systemic-miming cell lines in vitro. Three out of the examined strains presenting the most performant probiotic properties, as Lactobacillus plantarum PBS067, Lactobacillus rhamnosus PBS070 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis PBSO75, were evaluated for their effects also on human intestinal HT-29 cell line. The obtained results support the possibility to move to another level of study, that is, the oral administration of these probiotical strains to patients with acute and chronic gut disorders, by in vivo experiments.
As we age, the aerobic and functional capacities of our major physiological systems progressively decline. In the case of the neuromuscular system, reductions in strength and mobility cause a deterioration in motor performance and in turn a greater tendency to fall (with increased risk of fractures), impaired mobility, disability and loss of independence in the elderly. Given the increase in our life expectancy and the consequent growth in the elderly population, these conditions will have an increasing impact on modern healthcare systems, and their prevention and attenuation needs to be addressed. Several intervention strategies have been used to improve motor performance among the aging. At the cellular level, aging is caused by a progressive decline in mitochondrial function that results in the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the addition of a single electron to the oxygen molecule As the level of oxidative stress in skeletal muscle increases with age, the production of some antioxidant enzymes increases adaptively to compensate in part. The aging process is characterized by an imbalance between an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species in the organism and the antioxidant defences as a whole. The goal of this review is to examine the results of existing studies on oxidative stress in aging human skeletal muscles, taking into account different physiological factors (sex, fiber composition, muscle type and function).
The paper describes the preparation of new probiotic formulations based on chitosan-coated alginate microcapsules containing three different probiotic strains, Lactobacillus plantarum PBS067, Lactobacillus rhamnosus PBS070, and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis PBS075 taken individually and as a mixture of them. The effects of microencapsulation on the viability of the strains in conditions simulating the gastrointestinal tract and under industrial processes conditions were studied. In addition, an evaluation of their probiotic properties was also investigated by in vitro tests on the human intestinal cell line HT-29 to explore the effect of microencapsulation on health beneficial effect of the considered strains. Non-encapsulated cells were completely destroyed when exposed to simulated gastric juice and other stress conditions, while encapsulated cells exhibited a significantly higher resistance to artificial intestinal juice and heat and osmotic treatment. Moreover, in this study, the effect of the various microencapsulated probiotic strain formulations was compared with analogous formulations also containing the β-glucan Pleuran. The microencapsulation effectively protected the selected bacteria, as single strain and as a mixture of the three strains in both the formulations with and without Pleuran, from simulating gastrointestinal tract and industrial process conditions in delivering the viable cells without any significant adverse effect on their functionalities. The comparative study of the immunomodulatory properties of each single strain and the mixture of the three strains revealed a synergistic effect of the probiotic mixture, but no appreciable difference between the two kinds of formulations could be detected, as the effect of Pleuran is covered by the higher potential of the probiotic strains.
The oxalate-degrading activity of some probiotics and their capability to modulate the release of inflammation mediators could be exploited as a new nutraceutical and therapeutic approach for the treatment of oxalate accumulation and the related inflammatory state.
Alteration of the ubiquitous thiol tripeptide glutathione (GSH) is involved in oxidative stress, which plays a role in ageing; consequently, GSH is closely related to this process characterized by progressive decline in the efficiency of physiological function and increased susceptibility to disease. When circulating GSH decreases, oral administration might be considered a therapeutic benefit. Unfortunately, due to the hydrolysis of the tripeptide by intestinal γ-glutamyltransferase, dietary glutathione is not a major determinant for its increase. Aim of this work was to evaluate improvement of GSH systemic availability testing, in vitro and in vivo, an optimized orobuccal fast-slow release formulation tablet containing pure stabilized GSH. In vitro evaluation of the penetration capability of the innovative GSH-release formulation showed that GSH was well absorbed by the reconstructed oral epithelium and its absorption has features of time-dependence. In addition, in vivo results, obtained from 15 healthy volunteers, were in favor of GSH level improvement in blood showing fast (after 30 and 60 minutes) absorption through oral mucosa. In conclusion, the intake of GSH formulated through optimized orobuccal fast-slow release tablets gave positive results in raising GSH blood concentration.
Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a multifactorial long-standing inflammatory skin disease with a high incidence worldwide in both adults and children. According to the recognized correlation between skin and intestine-the so-called "gut-skin axis"-gut unbalances can affect skin by inducing systemic inflammation and triggering dermatological diseases such as AD. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of a food supplement containing selected strains of probiotics in ameliorating AD symptoms and skin conditions in adult volunteers. Materials & Methods: Eighty adult subjects showing mild-to-severe AD, skin dryness, desquamation, erythema and itching were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial to receive, for 56 days, a placebo or a mixture of lactobacilli (L. plantarum PBS067, L. reuteri PBS072 and L. rhamnosus LRH020). The latter was chosen according to the patients' production of post-biotic metabolites and B-group vitamins, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant capacity and anti-microbial activity. Clinical and instrumental dermatological evaluation was performed at T 0d , T 28d and T 56d , and then at T 84d (after a one-month wash-out). Inflammatory cytokine levels from skin tape stripping, sampled close to AD lesions at T 0d and T 56d , were also measured. Results: Subjects receiving the probiotic mixture showed an improvement in skin smoothness, skin moisturization, self-perception, and a decrease in SCORAD index as well as in the levels of inflammatory markers associated with AD at T 28d , with a positive trend up to T 56d which was maintained at T 84d . Conclusion: Administration of selected probiotic strains resulted in a fast and sustained improvement in AD-related symptoms and skin conditions.
Free radicals, in particular radical oxygen species (ROS), play an important role in the aetiology and pathogenesis of various diseases. Current research in many countries focuses on the use of local medicinal plants as a promising source of liver protective agents. This paper describes the hepatoprotective effects of the methanol extract and four isolated compounds from Ficus chlamydocarpa on CCl 4-induced liver damage, as well as the possible antioxidant mechanisms involved in this protection. The DPPH test, along with the ß-Carotene-Linoleic Acid Model System and Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power assays, as well as the inhibition of microsomal lipid peroxidation were used to measure radical-scavenging and antioxidant activities. Pretreatment of rats with the methanol extract of F. chlamydocarpa before CCl 4 administration, significantly prevented serum increase of hepatic enzyme markers, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT), in a dose-dependent manner. The hepatoprotection was also associated with a significant enhancement in hepatic reduced glutathione (GSH) and a marked decrease of liver malondialdehyde (MDA). Among the four compounds 1-4, isolated from the methanol extract, α-amyrin acetate (1) and luteolin (4) showed a significant hepatoprotective activity, as indicated by their ability to prevent liver cell death and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage during CCl 4 intoxication.
The impact of chronic excessive energy intake on protein metabolism is still controversial. Male Wistar rats were fed ad libitum during 5 weeks with either a high‐fat high‐sucrose diet (HF: n = 9) containing 45% of total energy as lipids (protein 14%; carbohydrate 40% with 83.5% sucrose) or a standard diet (controls: n = 10). Energy intake and body weight were recorded. At the end of the experiment, we measured body composition, metabolic parameters (plasma amino acid, lipid, insulin, and glucose levels), inflammatory parameter (plasma α2‐macroglobulin), oxidative stress parameters (antioxidant enzyme activities, lipoperoxidation (LPO), protein carbonyl content in liver and muscle), and in vivo fed–state fractional protein synthesis rates (FSRs) in muscle and liver. Energy intake was significantly higher in HF compared with control rats (+28%). There were significant increases in body weight (+8%), body fat (+21%), renal (+41%), and epidydimal (+28%) fat pads in HF compared with control rats. No effect was observed in other tissue weights (liver, muscle, spleen, kidneys, intestine). Liver and muscle FSRs, plasma levels of lipids, glucose, insulin and α2‐macroglobulin, soleus and liver glutathione reductase and peroxidase acitivities, MnSOD activity, LPO, and protein carbonyl content were not altered by the HF diet. Only soleus muscle and liver Cu/ZnSOD activity and soleus muscle catalase activities were reduced in HF rats compared with control rats. Thus, chronic excessive energy intake and increased adiposity, in the absence of other metabolic alterations, do not stimulate fed‐state tissue protein synthesis rates.
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