Avaliação da funcionalidade de nutracêuticos compostos por Limosilactobacillus fermentum, quercetina e/ou resveratrol

Abstract

Nutraceuticals are products that can provide health benefits through the combined intake of bioactive components that constitute them. Nutraceuticals may be suitable vehicles for the co-ingestion of the probiotic Limosilactobacillus fermentum 296, QUE and/or RES. The objective of this work was to evaluate the functionality of nutraceuticals composed of probiotic strain L. fermentum 296 fructooligosaccharides, quercetin and/or resveratrol. For this, 4 different nutraceuticals were produced, namely: i) lyophilized strain with FOS (200 mg) (LfF); ii) lyophilized strain with FOS added QUE (160 mg), (LfFQ); iii) lyophilized strain with FOS added with RES (150 mg), (LfFR); and iv) lyophilized strain with FOS added with RES + QUE (LfFQR); and evaluated during simulated gastrointestinal digestion, from the measurement of the viability and physiological conditions of L. fermentum, concentration and bioaccessibility of compounds, in addition to antioxidant capacity. Next, the effects of nutraceuticals on the relative abundance of intestinal bacterial populations, production of microbial metabolites, and antioxidant capacity during in vitro colonic fermentation were evaluated. Nutraceuticals with quercetin and resveratrol in the composition had the highest plaque counts (4.94 ± 0.32 log CFU/mL, p<0.05) and sizes of live cell subpopulations (28.40 ± 0.28%, p<0.05) of L. fermentum 296 after exposure to simulated gastrointestinal conditions. A Gmean index of injured cells (an arbitrary unit above 0.5) indicated that part of the L. fermentum 296 cells can enter the viable but nonculturable state when exposed to gastric and intestinal conditions, maintaining cell viability. Nutraceuticals maintained high levels of quercetin and resveratrol (~ 29.17 ± 0.62 and ~ 23.05 mg/100 g, respectively, p <0.05), showed bioaccessibility (~ 41.0 ± 0.09% and ~ 67.4 ± 0.17%, respectively, p <0.05) and antioxidant capacity in the ABTS and DPPH analyzes (~ 88.18 ± 1.16% and 75.54 ± 0.65%, respectively, p < 0.05) during exposure to simulated gastrointestinal conditions, which may be linked to protective effects on L. fermentum cells 296. Nutraceuticals increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp., Enterococcus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. (3.35 ± 0.21% – 9.76 ± 0.19%, p ≤0.05) and decreased the relative abundance of Clostridium histolyticum, E. rectale and C. coccoides (0.21 ± 0.12% – 6.0 ± 0.42%, p ≤0.05) during colonic fermentation. The relative abundance of Bacteroides spp. and Prevotella spp. increased in media with LfF, LfFR and FOS during the 48 h of colonic fermentation (5.54 ± 0.34% – 8.31 ± 0.26%, p ≤0.05) and decreased in media with LfFQ and LfFQR (1.18 ± 0.25% – 2.42 ± 0.45%, p ≤0.05). The fecal fermentation medium with LfFQR had the highest prebiotic index (19.74 ± 0.04, p ≤0.05) in 48 h of colonic fermentation, indicating synergistic or additive interaction between QUE and RES to modulate the intestinal microbiota. During fermentation, 66 distinct chemical constituents were identified, such as alanine, lysine, succinic acid, lactic acid, formic acid, malonate, glycine, uracil and sugars. Media with LfFQR had the highest antioxidant capacity (p ≤0.05) at 48 h of colonic fermentation in the ABTS and DPPH assays, followed by media with LfFQ, LfFR, LfF and FOS. Developed nutraceuticals can cross the gastrointestinal tract with high concentrations of functional probiotic cells and bioaccessible phenolic compounds to exert their beneficial impacts on consumer health. In addition, the results indicated the ability of nutraceuticals to beneficially modulate the composition and production of metabolites in the human intestinal microbiota and increase the antioxidant capacity in the intestinal environment, being valuable strategies for dietary supplementation and health promotion.