Evaluation of the passage of Lactobacillus gasseri K7 and bifidobacteria from the stomach to intestines using a single reactor model

Background: Probiotic bacteria are thought to play an important role in the digestive system and therefore have to survive the passage from stomach to intestines. Recently, a novel approach to simulate the passage from stomach to intestines in a single bioreactor was developed. The advantage of this automated one reactor system was the ability to test the influence of acid, bile salts and pancreatin. Lactobacillus gasseri K7 is a strain isolated from infant faeces with properties making the strain interesting for cheese production. In this study, a single reactor system was used to evaluate the survival of L. gasseri K7 and selected bifidobacteria from our collection through the stomach-intestine passage. Results: Initial screening for acid resistance in acidified culture media showed a low tolerance of Bifidobacterium dentium for this condition indicating low survival in the passage. Similar results were achieved with B. longum subsp. infantis whereas B. animalis subsp. lactis had a high survival. These initial results were confirmed in the bioreactor model of the stomach-intestine passage. B. animalis subsp. lactis had the highest survival rate (10%) attaining approximately 5 x 10(6) cfu ml(-1) compared to the other tested bifidobacteria strains which were reduced by a factor of up to 10(6). Lactobacillus gasseri K7 was less resistant than B. animalis subsp. lactis but survived at cell concentrations approximately 1000 times higher than other bifidobacteria. Conclusion: In this study, we were able to show that L. gasseri K7 had a high survival rate in the stomach-intestine passage. By comparing the results with a previous study in piglets we could confirm the reliability of our simulation. Of the tested bifidobacteria strains, only B. animalis subsp. lactis showed acceptable survival for a successful passage in the simulation system.