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Recent studies have shown that inflammatory diseases are becoming more frequent throughout the world. The causes of these disorders are multifactorial and include genetic, immunological, and environmental factors, and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis. The use of beneficial microorganisms has shown to be useful in the prevention and treatment of disorders such as colitis, mucositis, and even colon cancer by their immune-stimulating properties. It has also been shown that certain vitamins, especially riboflavin and folate derivatives, have proven to be helpful in the treatment of these diseases. The application of vitamin-producing lactic acid bacteria, especially strains that produce folate and riboflavin together with immune-stimulating strains, could be used as adjunct treatments in patients suffering from a wide range of inflammatory diseases since they could improve treatment efficiency and prevent undesirable side effects in addition to their nutrition values. In this review, the most up to date information on the current knowledge and uses of vitamin-producing lactic acid bacteria is discussed in order to stimulate further studies in this field.

Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic and relapsing-remitting disorders that affect the gastrointestinal tract. Previously, the administration of folate and riboflavin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) or an immune-modulating strain showed beneficial effects as they were able to reduce the acute inflammation in mouse models. The aim of this work was to evaluate a mixture of vitamin-producing and immune-modulating LAB administering together with an anti-inflammatory drug during the remission period of a mouse model of recurrent colitis. BALB/c mice were intrarectally instilled with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) and those who recovered from this acute challenge were given the LAB mixture, mesalazine, or the combination of both (mesalazine + LAB) during 21 days, followed by a second challenge with TNBS. Control mice instilled with ethanol (vehicle of TNBS) and receiving the different treatments were also evaluated in order to study the effect of chronic anti-inflammatory therapy. The combination of mesalazine and LAB mixture was the most effective to decrease the intestinal damage at macroscopic and histological levels and to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α) in intestinal fluids. In animals instilled with ethanol, mesalazine produced a loss of body weight and intestinal damages with increased IL-6. These side effects were prevented by the co-administration of mesalazine and the LAB mixture. The LAB blend did not affect the primary anti-inflammatory treatment, was able to improve it, and also prevented the side effects of this therapy.

Mandatory fortification of foods with folic acid is being questioned by many scientists principally because of the potential adverse secondary effects associated with their excessive consumption. It has been shown that selected strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are able to produce natural forms of folate and these could be included in foods to prevent deficiencies without causing adverse effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate folate production and fol gene expression by Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. macedonicus (S. macedonicus) CRL415 under different growth conditions in vitro and to assess its potential probiotic application. Results showed that glucose as the principal carbon source, and incubation at 42 °C under controlled pH conditions (6.0) increased folate production, fol gene expression, and growth of S. macedonicus CRL415. This strain was able to produce elevated folate concentrations during milk fermentation without the need of prolonged incubation times and was able to resist conditions simulating the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, S. macedonicus was susceptible to all required antibiotics, and had a good adhesion level to intestinal cells in vitro, making it a promising candidate for biotechnological application as functional starter cultures in the dairy industry., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To evaluate two folate-producing strains, Streptococcus (Strep.) thermophilus CRL 808 and Strep. thermophilus CRL 415, against chemically induced mucositis in mice., Methods and Results: In vitro assays with Caco-2 cells were performed to evaluate the effect of the bacteria in the presence of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). For in vivo studies, mice were daily injected with 5-FU to induce intestinal mucositis (IM) and orally administered with folate-producing strains during 6 days. Clinical symptoms, histological parameters and cytokine profiles were assessed. The results showed that Strep. thermophilus CRL 808 increased the cytotoxicity of 5-FU against Caco-2 cells. Administration of this strain in mice with chemically induced IM resulted in a reduction in diarrhoea score and restoration of the intestinal architecture. Cytokine analysis showed that the anti-inflammatory effect by the bacterium is not associated with an immune mechanism. Regarding Strep. thermophilus CRL 415, no improvements were observed in any of the parameters evaluated., Conclusion: The administration of the folate-producing Strep. thermophilus CRL 808 has the potential to prevent IM induced by 5-FU in mice., Significance and Impact of the Study: Folate-producing LAB could be used in chemotherapy patients to reduce the symptoms of IM, improve their nutritional status and increase the effectiveness of 5-FU., (© 2018 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Objectives: Intestinal mucositis (IM) is a local inflammatory response that causes alterations of the intestinal structure that in turn affect nutrient absorption and a side effect that is commonly associated with cancer treatments. Lactobacillus plantarum CRL2130 is a riboflavin-overproducing strain that has previously been shown to provide antiinflammatory properties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of this riboflavin-producing strain in a chemically induced murine mucositis model., Methods: Mucositis was induced by daily injections of 5-fluororacil (5-FU) after which mice were either given L. plantarum CRL2130, CRL725 (strain from which CRL2130 was derived that does not overproduce riboflavin), or commercial riboflavin twice daily during 6 d of chemotherapy agent injections. The effect of the strains and riboflavin was also evaluated in vitro using Caco-2 intestinal cancer cell cultures to determine if they interfere with 5-FU's anticancer activity., Results: The administration of L. plantarum CRL2130 significantly attenuated the pathologic changes induced by 5-FU in mice such as body weight loss, diarrhea, shortening of villus height, increases in proinflammatory cytokine concentrations, and elevated production of interleukin 10. In vitro assays using Caco-2 cells showed that the effectiveness of 5-FU was not affected by L. plantarum CRL2130 and that this strain exerted an inhibitory mechanism against oxidative stress., Conclusions: These results indicate that the riboflavin-overproducing strain L. plantarum CRL2130 could be useful to prevent mucositis during cancer treatments and would not affect the primary treatment., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Current therapies for against inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are sometimes limited by high costs, high toxicities and/or undesirable side effects, reasons for which new treatments are constantly being developed and studied. In this regards, an increasing mass of data has demonstrated that fecal transplantations and probiotic supplementations have shown promising effects and could be considered as adjunct IBD treatments to decrease some of the unwanted side effects caused by primary treatments. Furthermore, there is also mounting evidence that suggests that certain vitamins could provide antiinflammatory effects and it has been shown that certain strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), the most commonly used probiotic microorganisms, can produce biologically active forms of certain vitamins., Objective: To discuss the potential role of the vitamin-producing LAB on intestinal inflammatory diseases., Method: A thorough search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed research on the effect of vitamins produced by LAB on inflammatory processes was performed., Results: There is mounting research that vitamin producing LAB could provide antiinflammatory effects., Conclusion: The potential role of vitamin producing LAB was discussed not only because they could be used to decrease inflammation but also because they could provide the host with essential nutrients that are normally deficient in IBD patients due to altered intestinal morphologies., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Aim: To assess the anti-inflammatory effect associated with individual probiotic suspensions of riboflavin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in a colitis murine model., Methods and Results: Mice intrarectally inoculated with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) were orally administered with individual suspensions of riboflavin-producing strains: Lactobacillus (Lact.) plantarum CRL2130, Lact. paracasei CRL76, Lact. bulgaricus CRL871 and Streptococcus thermophilus CRL803; and a nonriboflavin-producing strain or commercial riboflavin. The extent of colonic damage and inflammation and microbial translocation to liver were evaluated. iNOs enzyme was analysed in the intestinal tissues and cytokine concentrations in the intestinal fluids. Animals given either one of the four riboflavin-producing strains showed lower macroscopic and histologic damage scores, lower microbial translocation to liver, significant decreases of iNOs+ cells in their large intestines and decreased proinflammatory cytokines, compared with mice without treatment. The administration of pure riboflavin showed similar benefits. Lact. paracasei CRL76 accompanied its anti-inflammatory effect with increased IL-10 levels demonstrating other beneficial properties in addition to the vitamin production., Conclusion: Administration of riboflavin-producing strains prevented the intestinal damage induced by TNBS in mice., Significance and Impact of the Study: Riboflavin-producing phenotype in LAB represents a potent tool to select them for preventing/treating IBD., (© 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are idiopathic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract characterised by recurrent inflammation that require lifelong treatments. It has been shown that certain strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can produce specific health-promoting compounds in foods or in the gastrointestinal tract that can in turn prevent and/or treat IBD. This study was designed to evaluate the possible therapeutic potential of soymilk fermented by the riboflavin-producing strain Lactobacillus plantarum CRL 2130 in a trinitrobenzene sulfonic induced colitis mouse model. Mice that received soymilk fermented by L. plantarum CRL 2130 showed a decrease in weight loss, lower damage scores in their large intestines, lower microbial translocation to liver and decreased cytokines levels in their intestinal fluids compared to animals that received unfermented soymilk or soymilk fermented by a non-riboflavin-producing L. plantarum strain. This is the first report that demonstrates that a riboflavin-producing LAB was able to prevent experimental colitis in a murine model.