Inhibition of bacterial growth by Maillard reaction products

Abstract

Maillard reaction products (MRP) were obtained by refluxing solutions containing either arginine and xylose (AX) or histidine and glucose (HG). The solutions were tested either unfractionated or partly purified by dialysis through a Spectra/Por (R)-6 membrane with a molecular weight cutoff at 1OOO. The bacteria tested were both pathogenic and spoilage bacteria frequently found in food. The effects of the AX and HG added were assessed on the basis of the growth curves and the MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) values recorded. The MIC values obtained show that the inhibitory effect of MRP is dependent on the type of MRP and type of bacteria used. As can be seen from the growth curves, the lag phase of the growth was prolonged with increased concentrations of MRP. The results of the dialysis show that the high molecular weight fraction (MI >1OOO) was more inhibitory than the low molecular weight fraction (MI <lOOO) when tested with Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The MRP used in this study have in other studies been shown to possess a high antioxidative effect.

Plant-Derived Agents with Anti-Glycation Activity

“…The brown, carbohydrates based melanoidin polymers have been shown to possess strong antioxidant activity [183]. It is thought that one of the possible mechanisms by which MRPs may act as both antioxidants and antibacterial agents, is their metal-chelating activitiy [184].…”

Evidence to indicate that maillard reaction products can provide selective antimicrobial activity

“…temperature and duration, pH and water content), and by consequence, the specific properties of MRP products formed [37,38]. Antimicrobial activity of MRPs against several microorganisms, including Aeromonas hydrophila, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogens [14], Helicobacter pylori [17], Bacillus stearothermophilus [28], Salmonella enterica [14] and Escherichia coli [13] MRPs generated from different sugar-amino acids modeling systems, including arginine-xylose, histidine-glucose [13], glucose-glycine [14], glucose-phenylalanine, glucose-lysine, glucose-tryptophan, glucosealanine, and glucose-tyrosine [19] have been reported. Einarsson and co-workers [13] were first to demonstrate that antimicrobial activity of MRPs was dependent on both the type of crude MR product formed and the bacteria involved.…”

“…Collectively these compounds are associated with different sensory, physical and chemical properties [6,7], whereas others impart a range of biological properties that include antioxidant capacity [8][9][10], anti-inflammatory activity [9][10][11], anti-hypertensive activity [12], and antimicrobial activity ( Table 1). The antioxidant activity of MRP has received considerable attention [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and has been associated with extending the shelf-life of foods by postponing oxidation of food products [24,25]. There is some evidence that that antimicrobial properties of MRPs could also contribute to extending shelf-life of food products by inhibiting growth of spoilage-causing organisms [13,26,27,28].…”

“…The antioxidant activity of MRP has received considerable attention [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and has been associated with extending the shelf-life of foods by postponing oxidation of food products [24,25]. There is some evidence that that antimicrobial properties of MRPs could also contribute to extending shelf-life of food products by inhibiting growth of spoilage-causing organisms [13,26,27,28]. In the example with yeast, (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), it was reported that the active MRP component was furfural, which inhibited glycolysis and also alcohol product, due to inhibitory action on key enzymes, especially the dehydrogenases.…”

“…

activity also resulted in notable antimicrobial activity [13]. From these and other studies it is important to fully understand the inhibitory effect of Maillard reaction against bacteria and possible mechanism(s) of activity.

…”