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Several studies indicated that bifidobacteria possessed strong antioxidant activity. In present study, the antioxidant activities of Bifidobacterium animalis 01 proteins were evaluated using six assays, namely, linoleic acid preoxidation assay, erythrocyte hemolysis assay, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, reducing power assay, hydroxyl (.OH) and superoxide radicals (.O(2)(-)) assays, in which the last two assays were measured by electron spin resonance (ESR). There were two kinds of B. animalis 01 proteins in this study, the regular B. animalis 01 protein (Pro-CK) and the B. animalis 01 selenium-contained protein (Pro-Se). Both Pro-CK and Pro-Se showed concentration dependent antioxidant activity in DPPH assay, reducing power assay and erythrocyte hemolysis assay. All results of six assays indicated that the antioxidant activity of the B. animalis 01 protein was improved remarkably after selenium was incorporated. The antioxidant activity of Pro-Se increased with the increase of selenium content in Pro-Se suggesting selenium played a positive role in enhancing the antioxidant activity of B. animalis 01 protein. Moreover, organic selenium was more effective than inorganic selenium on enhancing the hydroxyl radical scavenging ability of B. animalis 01 protein., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To develop food-grade bifidobacteria micro-ecologics, screening for Bifidobacteria strains which can adhere to intestinal epithelial cells was finished. Twenty-three bifidobacterial strains tested were isolated from centenarians in Bama country, the fifth long-lived district in the world. Surface hydrophobicity and adherence capability to intestinal epithelial cells in vitro of bifidobacteria were simultaneously investigated for the first time. It has been demonstrated that all the strains exhibited adhesive properties to some extent using intestinal Caco-2 cell line in in vitro model. It could be conclude that the higher hydrophobic strains the stronger adhesive capability. The highest value of hydrophobicity (37.24+/-1.45% and 32.06+/-1.21%) was obtained for strains H-10 and I-6, respectively; correspondingly, the strongest adherence ability (49.47+/-4.88/cell and 47.33+/-2.72/cell) was achieved, respectively. Correlation between surface hydrophobicity and adherence ability of different Bifidobacterium strains including polynomial regression equation (R2=0.78) had been achieved. The present study provided a liable and effective method for screening bifidobacteria with the ability to adhere to intestinal epithelial cells.