Effect of Lactobacillus paracasei Culture Filtrates and Artichoke Polyphenols on Cytokine Production by Dendritic Cells.

Angelo Sisto,Paola Lavermicocca,Palmira De Bellis,Lucia Treppiccione,Donato Di Venere,Mauro Rossi,Diomira Luongo

doi:10.3390/nu8100635

Abstract

The most recent trend in research on probiotic bacteria aims at the exploitation of bioactive bacterial compounds that are responsible for health-promoting effects and suitable for medical applications. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to ascertain if the immunomodulatory effects of L. paracasei strains on dendritic cells (DCs) were caused by bacterial metabolites released in the culture medium. For that reason, bacterial strains were grown in two media generally used for the culture of DCs, and the effects of culture filtrates on the maturation of DCs and cytokine production were evaluated. Moreover, to reveal potential synergistic effects on the immunomodulation of DCs, an artichoke phenolic extract (APE) was added to the media before bacterial growth. The experiments pointed out an interesting anti-inflammatory activity of a culture filtrate obtained after growing a probiotic L. paracasei strain in one of the media supplemented with APE. Therefore, this culture filtrate—which combines the anti-inflammatory activity and the other well-known health-promoting properties of artichoke phenolic compounds—could represent the basis for future particular exploitations.

Highlights

Bacterial strains of the species Lactobacillus paracasei can be considered as common inhabitants of the human intestinal tract, and they are usually isolated from foods such as milk, dairy products, and fermented vegetables
L. paracasei IMPC 2.1 are exerted in the presence of the artichoke matrix, in order to reveal a potential symbiotic activity, we evaluated the effect of an artichoke phenolic extract fermented by those
The total phenolic concentration of the solution was quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), as described below, and the total phenol (TP) content of artichoke phenolic extract (APE) was calculated as the sum of the contents of single peaks identified by HPLC analysis and expressed as mg of TP/g of dry powder

Summary

Introduction

Bacterial strains of the species Lactobacillus paracasei can be considered as common inhabitants of the human intestinal tract, and they are usually isolated from foods such as milk, dairy products, and fermented vegetables. This species is generally recognized as safe (GRAS and “Qualified Presumption of Safety”-QPS status) because of a long history of safe human consumption [1,2]. The probiotic/vegetable joining has the aim of broadening the variety of probiotic food types using a suitable vegetable carrier rich in functional components. In this regard, artichokes contain polyphenols—in particular flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives—which are known for their antioxidant properties. The main phenolic compounds contained in artichoke head are caffeoylquinic acids, above all chlorogenic acid (5-O-caffeoylquinic acid) and two dicaffeoylquinic acids

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