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Enhancement of the Anti-inflammatory Effect of Bromelain by Its Immobilization on Probiotic Spore of Bacillus cereus

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Abstract

The therapeutic application of bromelain is limited due to its sensitivity to operating conditions such as high acidity, gastric proteases in the stomach juice, chemicals, organic solvents and elevated temperature. We hypothesized that bromelain immobilized on probiotic bacterial spores would show enhanced therapeutic activity through possible synergistic or additive effects. In this study, the oedema inhibition potential of bromelain immobilized on probiotic Bacillus spores was compared to the free enzyme using the carrageenan paw oedema model with Wistar rats. In batch A rats (carrageenan-induced inflammation 30 min after receiving oral treatments), group 7 rats treated with a lower dose of spore-immobilized bromelain suspension showed the highest oedema inhibition, 89.20 ± 15.30%, while group 4 treated with a lower dose of free bromelain had oedema inhibition of 60.25 ± 13.00%. For batch B rats (carrageenan-induced inflammation after receiving oral treatment for three days), group 7 rats treated with a lower dose of spore-immobilized bromelain suspension showed higher inhibition percentage (81.94 ± 8.86) than group 4 treated with a lower dose of free bromelain (78.45 ± 4.46) after 24 h. Our results showed that used alone, the enzyme and the spores produced oedema inhibition and improved the motility of the rats. The spore-immobilized bromelain formulation performed approximately 0.9-fold better than the free bromelain and the free spores at the lower evaluated dose.

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Abbreviations

SCFAs:

Short-chain fatty acids

IBD:

Inflammatory bowel disease

NSAID:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

COX 1:

Inhibit cyclooxygenase-1

COX 2:

Cyclooxygenase-2

WHO:

World Health Organisation

DSM:

Difco sporulation medium

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Chika Jude Ugwuodo, Tochukwu Nwamaka T. Nwagu, Tochukwu Thaddeus Ugwu & Chukwudi Ogbonnaya Onwosi

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  1. Chika Jude Ugwuodo
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Contributions

CU carried out the laboratory experiments, conducted the statistical analysis and contributed during the writing of the manuscript. TU assisted in the laboratory experiments and data collation and analysis. COO assisted in the supervision and contributed in writing the manuscript. TNTN designed the work, supervised and contributed in result analysis and writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Tochukwu Nwamaka T. Nwagu.

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Ugwuodo, C.J., Nwagu, T.N.T., Ugwu, T.T. et al. Enhancement of the Anti-inflammatory Effect of Bromelain by Its Immobilization on Probiotic Spore of Bacillus cereus. Probiotics & Antimicro. Prot. 13, 847–861 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-020-09714-y

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