Evaluation of chitoligosaccharides effect upon probiotic bacteria

João C. Fernandes*, Peter Eaton, Isabel Franco, Óscar S. Ramos, Sérgio Sousa, Henrique Nascimento, Ana Gomes, Alice Santos-Silva, F. Xavier Malcata, Manuela E. Pintado

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the antibacterial effect - through the determination of minimum inhibitory (and lethal) concentrations, as well as the possible prebiotic potential of chitooligosaccharides (COS) - through the determination of growth curves, on Bifidobacterium animalis Bb12, Bifidobacterium animalis Bo and Lactobacillus acidophilus Ki. Atomic force microscopy was further used to obtain high resolution images of COS effects upon the cell morphology. Our results demonstrate that COS do not stimulate the growth of those strains, neither the strains are capable of using COS as a primary source of carbon. Analysis of morphology when exposed to inhibitory/bactericidal concentrations, suggested that COS do not exert any direct damage upon the bacteria structure, instead the bacteria are apparently covered by COS, which likely prevent nutrient uptake.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)148-152
Number of pages5
JournalInternational Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Volume50
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Atomic force microscopy
  • Chitooligosaccharides
  • Chitosan
  • Probiotic bacteria

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