The impact of long‐term storage on fermentability of human fecal bacteria
Abstract
In vitro fermentation using human feces as inoculums is a useful tool to evaluate microbially catalyzed bioconversion of dietary components. However, the influence of storage duration on fecal fermentability has not been fully examined even though such information is crucial to generation of consistent results from in vitro experiments conducted over many months. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of storage at −20°C on the fermentability of human fecal bacteria. Freshly voided feces of 3 people were stabilized within 4 h using a reduced anaerobic phosphate buffer. The resulting fecal slurries were preserved with glycerol, frozen at −20°C, and evaluated monthly for 4 mo. Anaerobic fermentation was performed with 2% inoculum in batch style at 37°C and starting pH 6.8 under anaerobic mixed gas. A complex colonic medium supported bacterial growth for 48 h. Fermentability was monitored by changes in pH and protein content and production of short chain fatty acids. Our results show that fermentability of fecal bacteria that were properly preserved and stored at −20°C was maintained. The addition of cranberry proanthocyanidins prior to the start of fermentation appeared to increase bacterial growth by >; 20%. Our results are in support of the feasibility of using feces properly preserved and stored for long duration for in vitro fermentation experiments. Funded by US Army Natick Soldier Center.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2013
- Source ID
- 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1056.13
Entities
People
- C.y. (oliver) Chen
- Jason Soares
- Kenneth Racicot
- Steven Arcidiacono
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center
- Tufts University
- United States Army