Postbiotics of Naturally Fermented Synbiotic Mixture of Rice Water Aids in Promoting Colonocyte Health.

The eubiotic state of the gut microbiota is primarily brought about by various probiotic species that colonize the gut. It is becoming very clear that the probiotic-metabolite mixtures in the gut luminal milieu is central in establishing cross-kingdom signalling networks to maintain gut-multi-organ axes health. Culturally, different fermented foods and beverages have been regional staples since ancient times, and are known to be enriched with probiotics. However, regional variations including the environment, the staple food source (prebiotics), and fermentation methods, among other factors, influence the fermenting probiotic species. Fermented rice water (FRW), an economical, easy to make, simple beverage is a rich source of synbiotics. Therefore, consumption of fermented rice water allows for the intake of a variety of region-specific live probiotics. The secondary metabolites (postbiotics) present in such symbiotic mixtures may also contribute toward maintaining normal intestinal cellular functions. In this study, we highlight that regional staples such as rice consumed in their fermented form may hold promise in alleviating gut-related diseases. Our results show that simple overnight fermentation of cooked edible rice enables the growth of probiotic bacterial species belonging to the Lactic Acid Bacteria group (Leuconostoc lactis, Weisella confusa, Weisella cibacria, Lactococcus lactis, lactococcus taiwanensis, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus nagelii, and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. indicus). Metabolomic analysis of the overnight fermented and over two-nights fermented rice water identified more than 200 postbiotic metabolites. Our results show that postbiotics contributing to energy metabolism, gut-multiorgan axes, and microbial paraprobiotics are enriched in the overnight (~10 h) fermented rice water as compared to the over two-nights fermented rice water. Functional analysis via gene expression studies for nutrient absorption (mct-1 and mct-2) and barrier integrity (occludin and zo-1) reveals significant upregulation of these genes upon FRW treatment of HT29 colon cells. This study is a first-of-its-kind to demonstrate the proof-of-principle that postbiotics of naturally fermented rice water positively modulates colonocyte health.

Effect of Cell Derived Matrices on growth and differentiation of human Wharton's jelly derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Cell derived matrices (CDMs) are scaffolds constructed by decellularization of cellular matrices from different tissues and organs. Since cell derived matrices mimic the ECM of native tissues, CDM plays an essential role in the preparation of bioscaffolds. CDM scaffolds from Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) have been reported to support cell adhesion and proliferation of its own cells. Therefore, in this study we aimed to test if growth of human Wharton's jelly derived MSCs (hWJ-MSCs) may be enhanced when cultured on their own cell derived matrices. To do this, MSCs were induced to generate ECM using ascorbic acid. Thus, obtained matrices were decellularized and characterized quantitatively for changes in their biochemical components (total protein, collagen, glycosaminoglycans) and qualitatively for fibronectin, laminin and collagen (I & IV) by immunostaining. Our results show the retention of essential ECM components in the decellularized WJ-CDM. The influence of WJ-MSC-derived CDM on proliferation and differentiation of WJ-MSCs were evaluated by comparing their growth on collagen and fibronectin only coated plates. A non-coated tissue culture polystyrene plate (TCPS/WC) served as control. Our cell proliferation results show that no significant changes were observed in the proliferation of MSCs when cultured on WJ-MSC derived CDM as compared to the bio-coated and non-coated cultures. However, gene expression analysis of the differentiation process showed that osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation potential of the WJ-MSCs was significantly increased upon culturing them on WJ-MSC-CDM. In conclusion, the present study reveals that the WJ-MSCs cultured on WJ-MSC-CDM may augment osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation.