Abstract

Pickled cabbage is a popular Chinese traditional food. The present study was explored to characterize effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from the pickled cabbages on activities of antioxidant enzymes and hypolipidemia in normal and hyperlipidemic mice. 28 LAB strains were isolated from pickled cabbage, and two strains with high acid tolerance and bile salt resistance were screened. The strains were identified to be Lactobacillus plantarum (lab 1) and Lactobacillus brevis (lab 2) by the API 50CHL identification kit. They were given to normal and hyperlipidemic mice by ig.28 d continually. Activities of superoxide dismutase enzyme (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) in liver and kidney tissues of the LAB-treated mice were increased, while change in catalase (CAT) was insignificant. Differences of SOD levels between the lab 2-treated normal diet group and the normal control group was significant (p<0.05, p<0.01). Levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), total triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) were decreased and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) level was higher in the LAB-treated groups. Compared with the high fat food control group, serum TC and TG levels were significant decrease (p<0.01), HDL-c level was significant increase (p<0.05) in lab 2-treated and lab 1+lab 2-treated high fat diet groups. However, the strains cannot decrease the blood glucose level of hyperglycemic mice. The result indicates that the strains have the potentials of enhancing activities of antioxidant enzymes and relieving hyperlipidemia-induced oxidative stress, which also suggested that Chinese pickled cabbage is the beneficial resources of probiotics.

Key words: Lactic acid bacteria, antioxidant effect, hypolipidemia, Chinese pickled cabbage.