Study of the antibody stimulation potentials of lactobacillus spp isolated from palm wine

Abstract

In this study lactic acid bacteria were investigated for their presence in fresh palm wine and their effects on humoral immunity examined. The bacteria were isolated from fresh palm wine in a tenfold serial dilution. The isolates were purified by repeated subculture on De Man Rogosa Sharpe (MRS) agar and characterized phenotypically and genotypically. The identified Lactobacillus spp. were investigated for their effects on antibody (humoral immunity)-IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a secretion using sheep red blood cell as antigen (SRBC). Lactobacillus spp. were identified as Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. tolerans, Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus yonginensis. The isolates produced no significant effect on IgG antibody after 4 days' post-secondary challenge. However, they had significant percentage stimulation at 9 days post-secondary challenge of 100.2, 122.9, 106.4 and 118.3% for L. brevis, L. paracasei sub. tolerans, L. paracasei, and L. yonginensis, respectively. The isolates had marginal and somewhat suppressive effects on IgG1 and IgG2a at both 4 and 9 days' post-secondary challenge. The results show that fresh palm wine contains Lactobacillus spp. capable of stimulating antibodies production.