Abstract 1478 Monitoring the cellular response to whole food digests

The benefits of "healthy foods" are often attributed to specific nutrients like polyphenols, fibers, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have been studied in isolation in many in vitro and in vivo experiments. Nutrients, however, are rarely consumed in isolation and this reductionist approach fails to capture the synergistic effects of all compounds derived from a particular food matrix. Indeed, human nutrition research is increasingly focused on the benefits of consuming whole foods or whole diets, not just individual nutrients. We have developed a method of making cell culture media from in vitro digested whole foods or meals. Other than the nutrients derived from food, the culture media is fully defined so changes in cellular response can confidently be attributed to changes in nutrient composition. We use metabolomics profiling to track changes in metabolite levels in the culture media on growing Caco-2 cells which allows us to monitor cellular utilization and cellular transport of nutrients. We can also observe the effect of different food digests on intestinal barrier function and global transcriptional changes. This platform has been used to ask whether the cellular response is different when cells of the gastrointestinal tract are exposed to a plant-based or animal based diet. We have observed that protein quality differs between plant-based and animal-based foods resulting in differences in cellular growth and differentiation. Future studies can utilize this method to explore how different foods impact immunity, disease state, pathogen engraftment, drug uptake and changes in gut microbiome diversity. This research was funded in part by the Penn Center for Nutritional Science and Medicine, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the PennCHOP Microbiome Program, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation and the USDA In-House Project 8072-41000-108-00-D, "In Vitro Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystems: Effect of Diet".