THE IMPACT OF POTENTIAL PREBIOTICS INULIN, OLIGOFRUCTOSE AND POTATO STARCH ON THE GROWTH OF LACTOBACILLUS CASEI

Abstract

Prebiotics are increasingly being added to probiotic foods to enhance the survival and growth of probiotics. This study examines the ability of the Lactobacillus casei strain to use various prebiotics (potato starch, chicory inulin and oligofructose) as carbon sources for cell growth. Therefore, four culture media were prepared for the growth of specific lactobacilli. Three of these media were modified. The original medium recipe De Man Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) was respected, replacing only the carbon source - glucose, resulting a starch MRS broth, MRS broth with inulin and MRS broth with oligofructose. As standard it was used glucose from the MRS broth. The growth of biomass and the increase in the amount of lactic acid were analyzed. Spectrophotometric measurements of optical density were made for biomass growth, and for the determination of lactic acid growth, the acidity of the media was analyzed by monitoring the pH and the increase of the titratable acidity. After standardization of the probiotic culture at 37°C for 24 hours and inoculation in modified MRS media, the growth of the Lactobacillus casei strain was monitored for 12 hours once every 2 hours. It has been observed that glucose replacement with the three medium prebiotics favors bacteria growth during incubation at 37°C and resulted in an improvement in L. casei strain culture.