Occurrence of glutathione sulphydryl (GSH) and antioxidant activities in probiotic Lactobacillus spp.

Abstract

The antioxidative ability on the basis of reduced glutathione sulphydryl level, the inhibition activities of linoleic acid peroxidation of cell free extract of Lactobacillus spp. and the effects of types of media and growth phase of the cells on the cellular GSH level have been determined. Correlation between reduced glutathione sulphydryl level and antioxidative ability of Lactobacillus spp. was analyzed: Lactobacillus casei HY 2782 contained 25.15 μmole/g of GSH, the cellular GSH level of L. casei HY 2782 reached maximum after 24 h of cultivation and tended to decrease on further cultivation up to 72 h. There was a significantly higher level of cellular GSH when grown in de Man Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) broth than in tryptone phytone yeast extract (TPY) broth or bromcresol pruple dextrose (BCP) broth (p<0.05). The antioxidant activity of cell free extract of Lactobacillus spp. have been shown to be significantly different among strains in the inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation by thiobarbituric acid (TBA) test (p<0.01). L. casei HY 2782 and L. acidophilus ATCC 4356 revealed a high degree of antioxidative effect in linoleic acid oxidation system. Spearmans' rank correlation coefficient between inhibitory activity on linoleic acid peroxidation and cellular GSH levels of Lactobacillus spp. was 0.65, which means a significant positive correlation.