Evaluation of the production of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and biogenic amines by three strains of lactobacillus with probiotic potential

Abstract

There is a growing consumer demand and popularity for functional foods, including those with beneficial microorganisms, which has challenged the industry to produce products with beneficial properties for consumers' health. Among the various alternatives for the elaboration of new products, foods fermented with lactic acid bacteria stand out. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have numerous applications in the food and pharmaceutical industry, highlighting the category of probiotic cultures, widely used for the production of dairy products, and those cultures with technological characteristics such as bio-preservation or autolytic activity. One of the most recent and promising applications of LAB is the production of functional foods, in which they act as nutraceutical vectors or as cell factories to biosynthesize molecules of interest for human health, called postbiotics (Brown et al., 2017) and The demand for postbiotics in the global market is expected to grow in the coming years due to the increasing aging of the population (Karthik et al., 2018). One of the most appreciated compounds produced by BAL is ³-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a product of glutamate decarboxylation, known to modulate neurological disorders associated with a decrease in the inhibitory activity of the central nervous system (Mazzoli & Pessione, 2016),. GABA is a very promising molecule that can affect mood (by inducing a relaxed state), lower blood pressure (Inoue et al., 2003), and induce relaxation of intestinal smooth muscle (by reducing excessive intestinal motility in some induced colitis). due to stress). For these reasons, GABA is used to control irritable bowel disease and mild hypertension (Inoue et al., 2003). Until now, lactobacilli are described as the main producers of GABA, however, lactococci, streptococci, and bifidobacteria can also synthesize significant amounts of GABA (Lyte, 2011). However, some authors report that the production of GABA in foods such as cured cheeses is accompanied by the production of biogenic amines (Redruello et al., 2022). Biogenic amines are organic bases of low molecular weight with biological activity, produced by the action of the enzyme decarboxylase and the microorganisms used in the fermentation of foods such as LAB are capable of producing them. The consumption of these compounds causes serious toxicological effects, undesirable for human health, so their control is fundamental, mainly in foods such as cured cheeses. Thus, given that preliminary studies have shown that the three strains of lactobacillus worked on in the postdoctoral project have probiotic properties, the objective of this project is to determine the potential for GABA production of each of them and the possibility of producing biogenic amines, since The general purpose of the project is to allow the technological use of these lactobacillus strains as NSLAB, (Non-starter lactic acid bacteria) with functional properties. This short-term internship project at IPLA is part of the implementation project for the commercial production of lactic acid cultures with functional properties at TECNOLAT/ITAL. (AU)