In vitro Fermentation and Bifidogenic Potential of Galacturonic Acid

The first aim of our study was to screen some humain lactic acid bacteria on the basis of probiotic characteristics. The second aim was therefore to study the bifidogenic properties of D-galacturonic acid, major component of pectin via their in vitro fermentation by four human bacteria strains; Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus as potential gut pathogenic bacteria and Lactobacillus reuteri, Streptococcus thermophilus as potential probiotic gut bacteria and assessing the ability of the candidate prebiotic influenced the auto-aggregation of probiotic candidates, in second time the eventuel effect of D-galacturonic acid on EPS production of the two probiotic candidate on various carbon source. Our resullts show that characterized lactic strains possess interesting probiotic properties. Indeed, they revealed a good thermoresistance (65°C) and they were both tolerant to the acidity (pH 2.5). Our study revealed during this in vitro study that galacturonic acid possess remarkable prebiotic characteristic. In fact, it both exerted a selective stimulation on the beneficial strains 9.58 Log FCU/ml and 8.63 FCU/ml respectively for Lactobacillus reuteri, Streptococcus thermophilus and inhibited from other part the growth of the pathogenic ones. The obtained results revealed that galacturonic acid increased significantally the probiotic EPS production and i twas estimated for a long phase growth.