Antagonistic and enzymatic activities of Bacillus species isolated from the fish gastrointestinal tract as potential probiotics use in Artemia culture.

Probiotics have been used successfully in aquaculture to enhance disease resistance, nutrition, and/or growth of cultured organisms. Six strains of Bacillus were isolated from the intestinal tracts of fish and recognised by conventional biochemical traits. The six isolated strains were Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis using MALDI-TOF-MS technique. The probiotic properties of these Bacillus strains were studied. The tested bacillus strains exhibit antibacterial activity against the different pathogens. The strain S5 gave the important inhibition zones against most pathogens (20.5, 20.33, 23, and 21 mm against Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhimurium, respectively). According to our results, all Bacillus strains have extracellular components that can stop pathogenic bacteria from growing. The enzymatic characterization showed that the tested strains can produce several biotechnological enzymes such as α-glucosidase, naphtol-AS-BI-Phosphohydrolase, esterase lipase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, amylase, lipase, caseinase, and lecithinase. All Bacillus strains were adhesive to polystyrene. The adding Bacillus strains to the Artemia culture exerted significantly greater effects on the survival of Artemia. The challenge test on Artemia culture showed that the protection against pathogenic Vibrio was improved. These findings allow us to recommend the examined strains as prospective probiotic options for the Artemia culture, which will be used as food additives to improve the culture conditions of crustacean larvae and marine fish.

Improving the anti-diabetic and anti-hyperlipidemic activities of extra virgin olive oil by the incorporation of diallyl sulfide.

Development of novel functional foods is trending as one of the hot topics in food science and food/beverage industries. In the present study, the anti-diabetic, anti-hyperlipidemic and histo-protective effects of the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) enriched with the organosulfur diallyl sulfide (DAS) (DAS-rich EVOO) were evaluated in alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The ingestion of EVOO (500µL daily for two weeks) attenuated alloxan-induced elevated glucose, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), urea and creatinine. It also normalized the levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterols (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) and their consequent atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) in diabetic animals. Additionally, EVOO prevented lipid peroxidation (MDA) and reduced the level of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in diabetic animals. Concomitantly, it enhanced the activity of the antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), reducing thereby tissue oxidative stress injury. The overall histologic (pancreas, liver, and kidney) alterations were also improved after EVOO ingestion. The manifest anti-diabetic, lipid-lowering and histo-protective properties of EVOO were markedly potentiated with DAS-rich EVOO suggesting possible synergistic interactions between DAS and EVOO lipophilic bioactive ingredients. Overall, EVOO and DAS-rich EVOO show promise as functional foods and/or adjuvants for the treatment of diabetes and its complications.