Intestines without chicken
In Russia, for the first time, an artificial environment of chicken intestines was created
Scientists Don State Technical University (DSTU) has created a unique nutrient medium that mimics the composition of chicken intestines to search for beneficial lactobacilli-probiotics. According to the authors of the study, their work will allow moving the main search process to the laboratory, reducing the study time and reducing the need for experimental animals. The results are published in the journal Enzyme and Microbial Technology (Mazanko et al., Antioxidant and antimutagenic properties of probiotic Lactobacilli determined using LUX-biosensors).
In modern poultry farms, where poultry are kept crowded and without movement, their diet necessarily includes special feed additives with live probiotic bacteria. According to experts, probiotics support the health of birds by neutralizing the main risks of poultry farms — metabolic disorders and an increased tendency to mutations.
The search for new probiotic bacteria, which is conducted by specialists from different countries, involves animal testing. DSTU scientists have developed a new method of searching for bacteria, which, according to them, reduces the need for experimental animals by moving the bulk of the work to the laboratory. The authors also claim that their methodology allows to reduce the study time.
"We set the task even before animal experiments to select the most promising strains with high antioxidant and antimutagenic activity from the intestinal microbiota of chickens. Today, this can be done quickly and cost-effectively with the technology of lux biosensors — genetically modified luminous bacterial cells that allow us to assess the effect of probiotics," said Mikhail Chikindas, head of the research laboratory "Center for Agrobiotechnologies" of DSTU.
According to him, today even the most modern methods of primary screening allow us to determine the properties of bacteria only in a laboratory environment, and not in a real bird intestine. The scientific team managed to recreate the intestinal conditions in the laboratory and select strains immediately according to their real effect.
"We have developed a unique nutrient medium that mimics the composition of the natural contents of the chicken intestine. It has been shown that probiotics exhibit antioxidant and antimutagenic properties in different ways in the laboratory and in conditions close to intestinal, and both their weakening and strengthening can occur," Mikhail Chikindas added.
Using an improved technique, the researchers studied the potential probiotic properties of 38 Lactobacillus strains isolated from the litter of chickens with different conditions of detention. The best strains were selected with the prospect of further use in poultry farming as food additives.
The study was conducted by the Center for Agrobiotechnologies of DSTU within the framework of the Megagrant No. 075-15-2019-1880 "Veterinary drugs for directed modulation of animal health".
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