An iron supplement containing L. plantarum increases ferric iron and up‐regulates the ferric reductase Dcytb in human Caco‐2/HT29 MTX co‐cultures

Abstract

Iron absorption from a bread meal, added an encapsulated iron‐containing supplement, may be increased if the lactic acid bacteria L. plantarum (DSM 9843) is present. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which L. plantarum increases iron absorption. We have previously shown that lactic fermentation of mixed vegetables increased iron absorption in humans and voltammetric studies revealed that the level of ferric iron [Fe3+ (H2O)6] was increased in the fermented vegetables, compared to unfermented control. In this study, we detected a similar increase in ferric iron in the in vitro digested bread meal containing the supplement with L. plantarum. In a co‐culture of intestinal Caco‐2 cells and mucus‐producing goblet cells (HT29 MTX E12), we observed that the ferric reductase Dcytb increased in the presence of L. plantarum‐containing iron supplements while the production of mucin (muc5a1c) decreased independent of L. plantarum. This suggests that the L. plantarum‐effect on iron absorption is mediated through enhancing the Fe3+/Dcytb system.Support or Funding InformationThe work was financially supported by Probi ABThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.