Lactococcus lactis expressing food-grade β-galactosidase alleviates lactose intolerance symptoms in post-weaning Balb/c mice

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 96; no. 6; pp. 1499 - 1506
• Main Authors: Li, Jingjie, Zhang, Wen, Wang, Chuan, Yu, Qian, Dai, Ruirui, Pei, Xiaofang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.12.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; administration & dosage; Analysis; animal models; Animals; Bacteria; beta-Galactosidase; beta-Galactosidase - genetics; beta-Galactosidase - metabolism; Bifidobacterium; Biological Therapy; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnologically Relevant Enzymes and Proteins; Biotechnology; Biotechnology industry; Colonization; Committees; Diarrhea; Enzymes; Feces; Food; Food processing industry; gastrointestinal motility; Gastrointestinal Tract; Gastrointestinal Tract - metabolism; Gastrointestinal Tract - microbiology; Gene Expression; genetics; Humans; intestinal microorganisms; lactic acid bacteria; Lactococcus lactis; Lactococcus lactis - genetics; Lactococcus lactis - metabolism; Lactose; Lactose - metabolism; Lactose intolerance; Lactose Intolerance - metabolism; Lactose Intolerance - microbiology; Lactose Intolerance - therapy; Life Sciences; Male; Medical research; metabolism; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; microbial communities; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Milk; Motility; Nutrition; Nutrition research; oral administration; Probiotics; Probiotics - administration & dosage; Protein expression; protein synthesis; Public health; Small intestine; Studies; therapy; Weaning; Lactose intolerance; β-Galactosidase; Food grade
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-012-3977-4

The endogenous β-galactosidase expressed in intestinal microbes is demonstrated to help humans in lactose usage, and treatment associated with the promotion of beneficial microorganism in the gut is correlated with lactose tolerance. From this point, a kind of recombinant live β-galactosidase delivery system using food-grade protein expression techniques and selected probiotics as vehicle was promoted by us for the purpose of application in lactose intolerance subjects. Previously, a recombinant Lactococcus lactis MG1363 strain expressing food-grade β-galactosidase, the L. lactis MG1363/FGZW, was successfully constructed and evaluated in vitro. This study was conducted to in vivo evaluate its efficacy on alleviating lactose intolerance symptoms in post-weaning Balb/c mice, which were orally administered with 1 × 10 6  CFU or 1 × 10 8  CFU of L. lactis MG1363/FGZW daily for 4 weeks before lactose challenge. In comparison with naïve mice, the mice administered with L. lactis MG1363/FGZW showed significant alleviation of diarrhea symptoms in less total feces weight within 6 h post-challenge and suppressed intestinal motility after lactose challenge, although there was no significant increase of β-galactosidase activity in small intestine. The alleviation also correlated with higher species abundance, more Bifidobacterium colonization, and stronger colonization resistance in mice intestinal microflora. Therefore, this recombinant L. lactis strain effectively alleviated diarrhea symptom induced by lactose uptake in lactose intolerance model mice with the probable mechanism of promotion of lactic acid bacteria to differentiate and predominantly colonize in gut microbial community, thus making it a promising probiotic for lactose intolerance subjects.