Functional Characterization of Bifidobacteria of Human Origin: A Case Study by the Students of Food Science and Technology of the University of Foggia (Southern Italy)
2014
The aim of this paper was to study the potential technological and
probiotic properties of bifidobacteria isolated from human feces.
Bifidobacteria, naturally present in the dominant colonic microbiota, represent
up to 25% of the cultivable faecal bacteria in adults and 80% in infants. Bifidobacteria
have been shown to adhere and colonize in high numbers different types of
cultured intestinal epithelial cells; moreover some authors reported that some
strains are able to stabilize the intestinal microbiota during and after
antibiotic therapy, modulate the immune system, protecting against chemically
induced intestinal inflammation and reducing symptoms of colitis. Eight
isolates of bifidobacteria were studied to assess their technological and
probiotic traits; the technological characterization relied on the assessment
of enzymatic activities (proteolytic and lipolytic activity), growth under
various conditions (pH, temperature and addition of salt), acidifying ability and metabolism (arginine deamination, esculin, esculin hydrolysis and citrate metabolism). The study of the probiotic characteristics
focused on the evaluation of the survival at low pH and with bile salts added,
antibiotic resistance, and hydrophobic properties. As a result of this process,
two promising strains were selected for further studies.
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