Francis Jayson B. Vallesfin | Leslie Michelle M. Dalmacio
Arabinogalactan is a prebiotic that can be extracted from Larch trees, carrots, wheat, and corn. Various clinical studies associated arabinogalactan supplementation with increased immune defenses. Bacteroides acidifaciens, a resident microflora of both mouse and human colon, has been demonstrated to induce sIgA levels and promote B cells in the colon of gnotobiotic mice. Larch arabinogalactans and B. acidifaciens had been separately shown to increase sIgA expression levels. However, there is no study that correlates the increase in sIgA levels with the increase in B. acidifaciens population due to a prebiotic. The study aims to utilize corn as an alternative source of arabinogalactans since the Larch tree is not easily grown in tropical countries. The effect of corn (Zea mays) arabinogalactans on B. acidifaciens is being investigated to support the sIgA immune response. Arabinogalactans were extracted from fresh corn kernels. The growth curve of B. acidifaciens reference culture on culture media containing various arabinogalactan concentrations was used to determine the optimum prebiotic dosage. The prebiotic activity of corn (Zea mays) arabinogalactan granules on Bacteroides acidifaciens was determined in vitro using batch culture fermentation. It was found that the optimum prebiotic dosage is 1.0 mg/mL. Using Eggert-Gangnon broth, enrichment with Larch and corn arabinogalactan showed bacterial growth of 6500 +/- 80 cells and 7200 +/- 150 cells, respectively, as compared to 3000 +/- 90 cells of the negative control and 4800 +/- 200 of the inulin treatment (positive control) after 6 hours of fermentation. In an in vitro set-up, it is observed that corn arabinogalactan enrichment can reach a maximum prebiotic score of 2.2. A preliminary study of BALB/c mice treatment with corn arabinogalactan indicates an increase in total protein content in the fecal samples. qPCR analysis of fecal DNA sample from mice treatment showed an increase in B. acidifaciens population after 30 days of supplementation with 0.1 mL 1.0 g/mL corn arabinogalactan treatment. The data from batch culture fermentation suggests that medium enrichment with arabinogalactan has a positive effect on the population growth of B. acidifaciens. The maximum prebiotic score of 2.2 implicates that B. acidifaciens has enzymes that can utilize arabinogalactan which results in an increase in growth rate. The increase in total protein content may indicate an increase in sIgA expression; to confirm this hypothesis, a sIgA ELISA is needed. In the next step of the study, in vivo prebiotic activity of corn arabinogalactan and the mucosal sIgA expression levels from fecal and colon swab samples collected will be compared among different treatment groups of BALB/c mice.
ISSN 2719-1990 (Print)
Philippine E-Journals
