Microencapsulation of new probiotic formulations for gastrointestinal delivery: in vitro study to assess viability and biological properties.

The paper describes the preparation of new probiotic formulations based on chitosan-coated alginate microcapsules containing three different probiotic strains, Lactobacillus plantarum PBS067, Lactobacillus rhamnosus PBS070, and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis PBS075 taken individually and as a mixture of them. The effects of microencapsulation on the viability of the strains in conditions simulating the gastrointestinal tract and under industrial processes conditions were studied. In addition, an evaluation of their probiotic properties was also investigated by in vitro tests on the human intestinal cell line HT-29 to explore the effect of microencapsulation on health beneficial effect of the considered strains. Non-encapsulated cells were completely destroyed when exposed to simulated gastric juice and other stress conditions, while encapsulated cells exhibited a significantly higher resistance to artificial intestinal juice and heat and osmotic treatment. Moreover, in this study, the effect of the various microencapsulated probiotic strain formulations was compared with analogous formulations also containing the ß-glucan Pleuran. The microencapsulation effectively protected the selected bacteria, as single strain and as a mixture of the three strains in both the formulations with and without Pleuran, from simulating gastrointestinal tract and industrial process conditions in delivering the viable cells without any significant adverse effect on their functionalities. The comparative study of the immunomodulatory properties of each single strain and the mixture of the three strains revealed a synergistic effect of the probiotic mixture, but no appreciable difference between the two kinds of formulations could be detected, as the effect of Pleuran is covered by the higher potential of the probiotic strains.

Evaluation of the probiotic properties of new Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains and their in vitro effect.

Probiotic ingestion is recommended as a preventive approach to maintain the balance of the intestinal microbiota and to enhance the human well-being. During the whole life of each individual, the gut microbiota composition could be altered by lifestyle, diet, antibiotic therapies and other stress conditions, which may lead to acute and chronic disorders. Hence, probiotics can be administered for the prevention or treatment of some disorders, including lactose malabsorption, acute diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, necrotizing enterocolitis and mild forms of inflammatory bowel disease. The probiotic-mediated effect is an important issue that needs to be addressed in relation to strain-specific probiotic properties. In this work, the probiotic properties of new Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains were screened, and their effects in vitro were evaluated. They were screened for probiotic properties by determining their tolerance to low pH and to bile salts, antibiotic sensitivity, antimicrobial activity and vitamin B8, B9 and B12 production, and by considering their ability to increase the antioxidant potential and to modulate the inflammatory status of systemic-miming cell lines in vitro. Three out of the examined strains presenting the most performant probiotic properties, as Lactobacillus plantarum PBS067, Lactobacillus rhamnosus PBS070 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis PBSO75, were evaluated for their effects also on human intestinal HT-29 cell line. The obtained results support the possibility to move to another level of study, that is, the oral administration of these probiotical strains to patients with acute and chronic gut disorders, by in vivo experiments.

Vitamin D and thyroid disease: to D or not to D?

The main role of vitamin D is to maintain calcium and phosphorus homeostasis, thus preserving bone health. Recent evidence has demonstrated that vitamin D may also have a role in a variety of nonskeletal disorders such as endocrine diseases and in particular type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, adrenal diseases and polycystic ovary syndrome. Low levels of vitamin D have also been associated with thyroid disease, such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Similarly, patients with new-onset Graves' disease were found to have decreased 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. Impaired vitamin D signaling has been reported to encourage thyroid tumorigenesis. This review will focus on the role of vitamin D in thyroid diseases, both autoimmune diseases and thyroid cancer, and will summarize the results of vitamin D supplementation studies performed in patients with thyroid disorders. Although observational studies support a beneficial role of vitamin D in the management of thyroid disease, randomized controlled trials are required to provide insight into the efficacy and safety of vitamin D as a therapeutic tool for this dysfunction.

Italian population data on two new short tandem repeat loci: D6S477 and D19S433.

A population study on two new short tandem repeat (STR) loci D6S477 and D19S433 was performed on 214 unrelated Italian Caucasians. The DNA was amplified by PCR and separation and detection of the amplified STR fragments were carried out by use of a PE/ABD PRISM 377 DNA sequencer 377 automated system (Applied Biosystems Division/Perkin Elmer). Both loci meet Hardy-Weinberg expectations. There is no evidence for departures from expectations between the two loci. The combined probability of discrimination and probability of exclusion for the two STR loci are 0.997161 and 0.883183, respectively. The results demonstrate that these loci can be useful for human identification in forensic cases in Italy.