Abstract: Totally 46 strains suspected of being lactic acid bacterial were isolated from three samples of sour bamboo shoot collected in Liuzhou, and their probiotic and anti-inflammatory properties were evaluated by acid resistance, bile salt resistance, simulated gastrointestinal digestion, in vitro HT-29 cell adhesion and NO release tests. Strain SS-31 was selected as an excellent anti-inflammatory strain and it was identified as Lactobacillus fermentum by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed that SS-31 had high acid resistance, and the number of viable cells remained above 107 CFU/mL with a survival rate of over 90.02% after 3 h of treatment with 0.1% bovine bile salt. Its survival rate was 80.28% after 2 h incubation in artificial gastric juice, but only 3.63% in simulated artificial gastric juice. SS-31 had strong adhesion to HT-29 cells with an adhesion rate of 4.47%, which was just slightly lower than that of the control strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG (4.95%). Compared with the model group, SS-31 significantly reduced the secretion level of NO in the culture supernatant of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-simulated RAW264.7 cells (P < 0.05), and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β and IL-6 (P < 0.05). The results proved that Lactobacillus fermentum SS-31 has potential for the treatment of inflammation.

Key words: sour bamboo shoot; screening and identification; lactic acid bacteria; anti-inflammatory activity