Hifumi Ohishi

Adhesive property of Bifidobacterium lactis LKM512 and predominant bacteria of intestinal microflora to human intestinal mucin.

The adhesive property to the intestinal mucin of Bifidobacterium lactis LKM512, B. longum, B. breve, B. bifidum, B. adolescentis, B. infantis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides distasonis, Eubacterium aerofaciens, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, and Lactobacillus acidophilus were examined. Adhesive rate of LKM512 to the mucin was significantly (p < 0.05, 0.01, or 0.001) stronger than the other strains from 2 to 100 time. Though the adhesive property of many strains was almost same to the mucin of 20-year-old and 50-year-old generations, in case of 4-month-old was different. Adhesive inhibitory effect of C. perfringens to the mucin by LKM512 was examined. Under the condition that LKM512 was 108/ml and that C. perfringens was 106/ml, adhesion of C. perfringens to the mucin was inhibited at 99.6%, when LKM512 adhered in advance. There was the strong inhibition of adhesion at 74.0%, when C. perfringens adhered to mucin in advance. Thus, LKM512 can inhibit the adhesion of harmful bacteria to the intestinal mucin, the possibility of using as a probiotic strain has to be verified.

Antioxidative effect of crude antioxidant preparation from soybean fermented by Bacillus natto

In this study, we used methods to investigate the antioxidative effect of a crude antioxidant preparation from soybean food fermented by Bacillus natto . One was the determination of inhibitory activities against oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid, linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) in surrounding air, and the other against cellular injury in the cultured cell (human endothelial cell line) induced by cumene hydroperoxide (CumOOH). This crude antioxidant preparation showed almost the same or somewhat greater protective effects as or than α -tocopherol in equal amounts by weight against the oxidative degradation, in both unsaturated fatty acids and cells.

Beneficial effect of crude antioxidant preparation from fermented soybean food on xanthine oxidase-hypoxanthine-induced foot-edema in rats

The effect of the crude antioxidant preparation from fermented soybean food on the repression of the XOD-HPX-induced foot-edema in rats was studied in comparison with the case treated with allopurinol (a specific inhibitor of XOD). The experimental results indicated that the preparation exerted effective anti-inflammatory activities on its function of free radical scavenger in the tissue injury. The levels of TBARS, and chemotactic factors (PGE 2 , histamine and LTB 4 ) in the serum and foot-edema tissue of the rat during the development and repair of the injury were determined and discussed in order to analyse the biochemical change.