A tolerant lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus paracasei, and its immunoregulatory function.

The aim of the present investigation was to isolate a probiotic strain from 23 samples of yurts cheese and 21 samples of kumiss (collected from scattered households in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia), and from eN-Lac Capsules, a health-promoting product. The isolates were subjected to biochemical characterization analysis and were tested for tolerance to low pH, sodium salt, bile salt, pepsin, and trypsin. 16S DNA sequence analysis was conducted to identify the strain. The possible dose-dependent role of strain LP2 in immunomodulation was investigated using the ICR mouse model (from the Institute of Cancer Research). Daily, we conducted clinical observations, a carbon clearance test, a spleen lymphocyte proliferation test, and measurements of body mass and lymphoid organ index. Natural killer cell activity and delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction were determined. The results showed that 3 selected strains (LP2, LP4, and LP9) had high tolerance to low pH, sodium chloride, and bile salt and were not significantly different from Lactobacillus paracasei in terms of morphology, colony, and biochemistry characterizations. A further tolerance test showed that LP2 had the highest survival rate (90%) under the conditions of pH 3.0, 0.3% bile salt, 10 mg/mL pepsin, and 10 mg/mL trypsin for 24 h. The sequence heterogeneities within the 16S rDNA genes molecularly elucidated that the LP2 belongs to the L. paracasei family, on the basis of a homology of 99.6%. A significant enhanced footpad swelling reaction and natural killer cell activity in the middle-dose (10(8) cfu/mL) and the high-dose (10(9) cfu/mL) groups were observed but without obvious dose dependence (P < 0.05). Lymphocyte proliferation was also increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.01) compared with that of the control group, indicating a positive immunoregulatory effect.