水果發酵液之安全性與免疫調節功能評估

Abstract

Fruits have been widely considered as the “default health foods” as they contain numerous vitamins and minerals needed to sustain human health. To fully enhance their nutritive and flavor features while prolonging their shelf lives, fermentation strategies have been utilized to prepare healthy yet readily consumable fruit products. In this study, the safety and immunomodulatory effects of a fermented fruit drink, known as the Jin Yes Fruit Enzyme, are being investigated. Safety assessment experiments performed on the Jin Yes enzyme showed that it is non-mutagenic to 5 strains of Salmonella typhimurium, non-cytotoxic and is unable to induce chromosome aberrations in Chinese Hamster Ovary K1 (CHO-K1) cells, as well as non-toxic in male ICR mice compared to the water-fed control group after 28 days of feeding. Moreover, it has been shown that feeding with the Jin Yes enzyme can reduce the amount of calorie intake, thus resulting to a lesser amount of weight gain in mice compared to the water-fed mice. To further investigate the immunomodulatory properties of the Jin Yes fruit enzyme, in vivo non-specific and ovalbumin (OVA)-specific immune response experiments using female BALB/c mice were performed. In a non-immunized mouse model, the results showed that the Jin Yes enzyme enhanced phagocytosis and T cell proliferation but had no effect on B cell proliferation and IgG production. Analysis of cytokine secretion profile also revealed that the Jin Yes enzyme increased the production of inflammatory cytokines, thus creating an immunostimulatory effect. On the other hand, in an OVA-immunized mouse model, results showed that the Jin Yes enzyme caused a decrease in the production of anti-OVA IgG1, which was accompanied by a decrease in IL-4 and in increase in IFN-γ production. Moreover, the Jin Yes enzyme was also found to decrease the production of IL-5, IL-6, and TNF-α in OVA-immunized mice, indicating that it may have the potential to reduce inflammation caused by OVA immunization. Therefore, these results collectively indicate that the Jin Yes enzyme is safe for human consumption and has the potential to modulate immune responses both in a non-specific and specific manner.