Effects of ID-alG™ on weight management and body fat mass in high-fat-fed rats.

Seaweed extract of Ascophyllum nodosum, ID-alG™, was evaluated for its chronic effects on weight management in high-fat-fed Sprague-Dawley rats. ID-alG™ was orally administered daily during 9 weeks at doses of 40 and 400 mg/kg/day with fat-enriched diet (FED) in comparison with two control groups consuming standard diet (negative control) or FED (positive control) and orally treated with vehicle. Body weight, percentage of body fat mass and lipid parameters were measured. After 9 weeks, the oral administration of ID-alG™ at both doses decreased significantly the mean body weight gains (MBWG) of rats submitted to the FED in comparison to the positive control (-6.8% and -11.8%). ID-alG™ at both doses improved significantly the MBWG of rats and decreased significantly the percentage of body fat mass of rats (-9.8% and -19.0%), in comparison to the positive control. In the same way, the triglyceride blood level was also significantly improved for the dose of 400 mg/kg/day (-30.6% vs. +49.9% for the positive control); and the dose of 40 mg/kg/day just lead to a trend. Moreover, in both controls and ID-alG™-treated groups, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL blood levels were not modified. The seaweed extract of Ascophyllum nodosum, ID-alG™, demonstrated beneficial effects on weight management of rats submitted to a high-fat diet.

Anti-inflammatory potential of the probiotic dietary supplement Lactibiane Tolérance: in vitro and in vivo considerations.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), where major modifications of the intestinal microflora have been reported, there is an increasing interest in modulating the flora with probiotic products. This work addresses the anti-inflammatory potential of Lactibiane Tolérance, a probiotic dietary supplement (mixture of four strains) using in vitro and in vivo approaches. METHODS: Comparison of the four individual strains and the commercial product reconstituted from them was conducted by in vitro tests (cytokine release after 24h stimulation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)). The potential immunomodulatory characteristics of Lactibiane Tolérance were determined in vivo in an acute mice model of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis. Assessment of colitis included blinded histological and macroscopic scores. RESULTS: We showed that Lactibiane Tolérance has anti-inflammatory properties in vitro by stimulating IL-10 production and in vivo by conferring a significant protective effect in the TNBS-induced colitis model (more than 50% decrease of colitis symptoms, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that a probiotic dietary supplement, Lactibiane Tolérance, can significantly prevent the initial injury of TNBS and could stimulate the initiation of clinical trials in IBD.

Effects of specific lactic acid bacteria on the intestinal permeability to macromolecules and the inflammatory condition.

UNLABELLED: Non-live probiotic bacteria and their fermentation products can be used in milk-based formula intended for healthy infants. The effects of a milk formula fermented with Bifidobacterium breve and Streptococcus thermophilus and heated/dehydrated to inactivate the micro-organisms have been reported over the last few years to decrease the intestinal permeability to macromolecules in experimental animals in vivo and more recently to down-regulate inflammatory condition in vitro. Feeding guinea-pigs with such dehydrated fermented milk reinforced the intestinal barrier resistance to food proteins (HRP, beta-lactoglobulin). In addition, the products secreted by bacteria were capable of inhibiting the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-alpha secretion by human peripheral mononuclear blood cells. The active secretion products were resistant to digestive enzymes and their anti-inflammatory properties were preserved after transepithelial transport across the filter-grown intestinal epithelial cell line, especially in inflammatory conditions. The binding of LPS to monocytes as well as NFkappaB nuclear translocation leading to pro-inflammatory cytokine transcription were inhibited by bacteria-culture supernatants. CONCLUSION: B. breve and S. thermophilus used as non-live micro-organisms in fermented infant formula seem to induce a reduction in macromolecular absorption and release metabolites exerting an anti-TNF-alpha effect, which persists after intestinal transport. Thus, specific lactic acid bacteria and their metabolites seem to affect positively the intestinal function.

Arabinogalactan and fructo-oligosaccharides have a different fermentation profile in the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME ®).

Current prebiotics, such as fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), are limited in their persistence in the distal colon and are predominantly fermented in the proximal colon. In order to identify a potential alternative, the differences in the fermentation profile of arabinogalactan (AG) and FOS have been assessed in the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem. The effect of each product on the composition and activity of the microbial community was analysed during a 3-week treatment period at a dose of 5 g day(-1). While FOS indeed was mainly fermented in the simulated proximal colon, AG was still available for fermentation in the simulated distal colon as shown by pH profiles, size exclusion chromatography and analyses of specific enzymatic activities. As a consequence, the main effect of the products (increase in propionate and butyrate and decrease in ammonium production) occurred in different intestinal areas. DGGE and qPCR analyses confirmed that the main modulation of the microbiota by the two products occurred in different areas of the gut. AG was associated with a statistically significant increase in the concentration of total bacteria, Bacteroidetes, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a delayed bifidogenic effect and a decrease of the pathogenic Clostridium perfringens. FOS led to a strong lactobacillogenic effect.