Evaluation and Determination of Lactase Activity on Various Lactic Acid Bacteria isolated from Kefir by using HPLC

Abstract

Kefir is a probiotic food. Probiotics have shown to be beneficial to health, and are currently of great interest to the food industry. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate the lactase activity of kefir-isolated lactic acid bacteria. Three strains, Lactobacillu kefiri DH5 isolated from the kefir grains and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis and Bifidobacteria longum 720, commercial probiotic LAB, were fermented in 10% reconstituted nonfat dry milk suspensions and incubated at 37℃ for 48 h, and then analyzed for various saccarides by HPLC. The results showed that changes in the concentrations of lactose and galactose were significantly decreased and increased, respectively (p<0.05), but all 3 probiotic strains tested in this study showed no increase in glucose concentration during 48 h of incubation. Both DH5 and BL720 showed high lactase activities (p <0.05), whereas BLC exhibited the lowest activity. Additionally, all three lactic acid bacteria showed high tagatose, but did not show high xylose and sedoheptulose. Finally, DH5, a kefir-isolated LAB, may have similar characteristics and properties to typical Bifidobacterium spp. and showed higher lactase activity than commercial Bifidobacterium spp.