Mixture Of Neutral Oligosaccharides Research Articles

Tolerance and Safety Evaluation in a Large Cohort of Healthy Infants Fed an Innovative Prebiotic Formula: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Backgroundthe addition of oligosaccharides to infant formula has been shown to mimic some of the beneficial effects of human milk. The aim of the study was to assess the tolerance and safety of a formula containing an innovative mixture of oligosaccharides in early infancy.Methodology/Principal Findingsthis study was performed as a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial including healthy term infants. Infants were recruited before the age of 8 weeks, either having started with formula feeding or being fully breast-fed (breastfeeding group). Formula-fed infants were randomized to feeding with a regular formula containing a mixture of neutral oligosaccharides and pectin-derived acidic oligosaccharides (prebiotic formula group) or regular formula without oligosaccharides (control formula group). Growth, tolerance and adverse events were assessed at 8, 16, 24 and 52 weeks of age. The prebiotic and control groups showed similar mean weight, length and head circumference, skin fold thicknesses, arm circumference gains and stool frequency at each study point. As far as the anthropometric parameters are concerned, the prebiotic group and the control group did not attain the values shown by the breastfeeding group at any study point. The skin fold thicknesses assessed in the breastfeeding group at 8 weeks were strikingly larger than those in formula fed infants, whereas at 52 weeks were strikingly smaller. The stool consistency in the prebiotic group was softer than in the control group at 8, 16 and 24 weeks (p<0.001) and closer to that of the breastfeeding group. There was no difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two formula groups.Conclusionsour findings demonstrate the tolerability and the long term safety of a formula containing an innovative mixture of oligosaccharides in a large cohort of healthy infants.Trial Registration:drks-neu.uniklinik-freiburg.de DRKS 00000201

Modification of the Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci -tobacco leaf interaction by bacterial oligosaccharides

Cell-associated oligosaccharides were extracted with trichloroacetic acid treatment from Pseudomonas syringae pv. aptata, purified by column chromatography, analysed by GC-MS and fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry, and bioassayed on tobacco leaves. The material was shown to be a mixture of neutral oligosaccharides, with a mol. wt of 800–1800, degree of polymerization 5–11, and linear glucose and mannose chains. Local infiltrations of the mixture, in concentrations of 1 mg, 100, 10 and 1 μg ml−1, did not cause tobacco tissue necrosis within 1 week. When the mixture was infiltrated in the interveinal leaf panels, in concentrations of 1 μg, 100, 10 and 1 ng ml−1, 48 h before challenge inoculation, it delayed or prevented normosensitive necrosis by P. syringae pv. tabaci but not hypersensitive necrosis by P. syringae pv. aptata. Five days after inoculation with P. syringae pv. tabaci, inhibition of normosensitive necrosis, as compared with the control tissue, was 80·55, 77·21, 56·36 and 45·46 % for the four concentrations. In the bioassay with P. syringae pv. tabaci the efficacy threshold was assessed at approx. 1 ng ml−1. Pre-treatment with oligosaccharides (1 μg significantly inhibited the growth of P. syringae pv. tabaci between 3 and 5 days after inoculation and, between day 6 and 8, it delayed the death of bacteria when the tissue was not subject to necrosis. An interval of 6 h was necessary between the infiltration of oligosaccharides (1 μg ml−1) and inoculation of P, syringae pv. tabaci for a clear inhibition of normosensitive necrosis. These oligosaccharides acted as signal molecules by modifying, at nanomolar concentrations, the P. syringae pv. tabaci—tobacco leaf interaction, but they were not elicitors of the hypersensitive reaction.