Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum Strain OLL2712 Culture Conditions on the Anti-inflammatory Activities for Murine Immune Cells and Obese and Type 2 Diabetic Mice.

Studies on the health-promoting effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are numerous, but few provide examples of the relationship between LAB function and culture conditions. We verified the effect of differences in culture conditions on Lactobacillus plantarum OLL2712 functionality; this strain exhibits anti-inflammatory activity and preventive effects against metabolic disorders. We measured interleukin-10 (IL-10) and IL-12 production in murine immune cells treated with OLL2712 cells prepared under various culture conditions. The results showed that the IL-10-inducing activities of OLL2712 cells on murine immune cells differed dramatically between OLL2712 groups at different culture phases and using different culture medium components, temperatures, and neutralizing pHs. In particular, exponential-phase cells had much more IL-10-inducing activity than stationary-phase cells. We confirmed that the Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) stimulation activity of OLL2712 cells depended on culture conditions in conjunction with IL-10-inducing activity. We also demonstrated functional differences by culture phases in vivo; OLL2712 cells at exponential phase had more anti-inflammatory activity and anti-metabolic-disorder effects on obese and diabetic mice than those by their stationary-phase counterparts. These results suggest that culture conditions affect the functionality of anti-inflammatory LAB.IMPORTANCE While previous studies demonstrated that culture conditions affected the immunomodulatory properties of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), few have comprehensively investigated the relationship between culture conditions and LAB functionality. In this study, we demonstrated several culture conditions of Lactobacillus plantarum OLL2712 for higher anti-inflammatory activity. We also showed that culture conditions concretely influenced the health-promoting functions of OLL2712 in vivo, particularly against metabolic disorders. Further, we characterized a novel mechanism by which changing LAB culture conditions affected immunomodulatory properties. Our results suggest that culture condition optimization is important for the production of LAB with anti-inflammatory activity.

Identification of a Lactobacillus plantarum strain that ameliorates chronic inflammation and metabolic disorders in obese and type 2 diabetic mice.

In this study, we identified a strain of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that induces high levels of IL-10 production by immune cells, and evaluated the ability of the strain to suppress chronic inflammation and ameliorate metabolic disorders in in vitro and in vivo models. Among a collection of LAB strains, Lactobacillus plantarum strain OLL2712 (OLL2712) induced the highest levels of IL-10 production in mouse-derived dendritic cells and peritoneal macrophages. The anti-inflammatory effects of this strain were evaluated using a co-culture system comprising RAW 264.7 and 3T3-L1 cells. We also administered heat-killed OLL2712 to obese and type 2 diabetic KKAy mice for 3 wk to evaluate the in vivo effects of the strain. The OLL2712 significantly decreased the production of proinflammatory cytokines in vitro. Likewise, the administration of OLL2712 significantly suppressed proinflammatory cytokine levels in both the visceral adipose tissue and the serum of KKAy mice, and reduced serum triglyceride concentrations. The strain also alleviated oxidative stress and adrenaline levels in the serum of KKAy mice. On the other hand, Lactobacillus gasseri strain MEP222804 (a moderate IL-10 inducer) did not ameliorate the systemic inflammation and hyperlipidemia in KKAy mice. Our results suggest that treatment with strong IL-10-inducing LAB has the potential to ameliorate metabolic disorders by suppressing chronic inflammation in the host animal.

[Study of 123I-IMP SPECT on diabetic patients].

The involvement of peripheral nerves and nerve roots often leads to neurological manifestations which have frequently been described in association with diabetes mellitus. Whether there is any specific involvement of the central nervous system in this process has yet to be determined. Recently, many reports have suggested that significant neurophysiologic abnormalities in the central nervous system can sometimes be found in diabetic patients. In order to accurately examine the existence of central nervous system involvement in patients with diabetes mellitus, comparisons of 123I-IMP (IMP) washout rates were made between normal adults (n = 19, average age 43.3 years) and diabetic patients (n = 23, average age 43.3 years), and these results were graphically demonstrated by color images. Early images were obtained 30 minutes after intravenous injection, while delayed images were made 4 hours after injection. The IMP washout rate was obtained by subtracting the values of the delayed image with the early image. The standard deviation (SD) of the IMP washout rate for each patient was compared to the averaged SD obtained from healthy adults. After calculating the deviation from SD levels of healthy adults, we made an image of the patient's IMP washout rates. These images were divided into seven degrees (I, II: normal, III, IV: borderline, V-VII: abnormal) and the ratio of each degree was expressed by a histogram in each cerebral hemisphere as the washout rate index. In 23 diabetic subjects, seven patients were found to be borderline while sixteen patients were abnormal. These impairments were not related either to the presence of diabetic neuropathies or the duration of disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[A case of secondary bladder tumor the origin (gastric cancer) of which could not be identified before autopsy].

Primary bladder tumor is the most frequent malignant tumor in the field of urology, whereas the incidence of secondary bladder tumor from a distant organ is quite rare. We report here a 21-year-old female patient with metastatic bladder tumor from gastric cancer. She came to our hospital with a complaint of only bladder irritability. Cystoscopical and cytological examinations revealed rhabdomyosarcoma of the bladder. She did not respond to radiation therapy and combined chemotherapy, consisting of actinomycin D, vincristine and cyclophosphamide, and died 91 days after admission. Autopsy revealed a primary tumor of poorly differentiated scirrhus carcinoma of the stomach. Thus this was a quite rare case of metastatic bladder carcinoma characterized by bladder irritability without gastrointestinal symptoms.