title: Promotion of intestinal peristalsis by Bifidobacterium spp. capable of hydrolysing sennosides in mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While there are a variety of identifiable causes of constipation, even idiopathic constipation has different possible mechanisms. Sennosides, the main laxative constituents of Daio, an ancient Kampo medicine, are prodrugs that are converted to an active principle, rheinanthrone, by intestinal microbiota. In this study, we aimed to determine the sennoside hydrolysis ability of lactic acid bacterial strains and bifidobacteria in the intestine and to investigate their effect on intestinal peristalsis in mice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 88 lactic acid bacterial strains and 47 bifidobacterial strains were evaluated for their ability to hydrolyze sennosides. Our results revealed that 4 strains, all belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium, had strong sennoside hydrolysis ability, exhibiting a decrease of >70% of sennoside content. By thin-layer chromatography analysis, rheinanthrone was detected in the medium cultured with B. pseudocatenulatum LKM10070 and B. animalis subsp. lactis LKM512. The fecal sennoside contents significantly (P<0.001) decreased upon oral administration of these strains as compared with the control. Intestinal peristalsis activity was measured by the moved distance of the charcoal powder administered orally. The distance travelled by the charcoal powder in LKM512-treated mice was significantly longer than that of control (P<0.05). Intestinal microbiota were analysed by real-time PCR and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The diversity of the intestinal microbiota was reduced by kanamycin treatment and the diversity was not recovered by LKM512 treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated that intestinal peristalsis was promoted by rheinanthrone produced by hydrolysis of sennoside by strain LKM512 and LKM10070.
authors.affiliation: Dairy Science and Technology Institute, Kyodo Milk Industry Co Ltd, Hinode-machi, Tokyo, Japan. m-matumoto@meito.co.jp
authors.forename: Mitsuharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishige
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yazawa
authors.forename: Manami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000873:Anthracenes / Q000737:chemistry; D000880:Anthraquinones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010528:Peristalsis; D019936:Probiotics / Q000737:chemistry; D012676:Senna Extract; D000081226:Sennosides
chemical_list: D000873:Anthracenes; D000880:Anthraquinones; D000081226:Sennosides; D019344:Lactic Acid; D012676:Senna Extract