Comparison of Acid and Bile Tolerances, Cholesterol Assimilation, and CLA Production in Probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus Strains

This study aimed to compare the probiotic characteristics of twelve strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus including cholesterol assimilation and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) production. Cholesterol assimilation exhibited some variation among L. acidophilus strains, which could be classified into three groups based on their assimilation levels (p<0.05). The high cholesterol assimilation group exhibited a significantly higher tolerance to 0.3 and 0.5% bile acid than the low cholesterol assimilation group (p<0.05). Cholesterol assimilation showed positive correlation with 0.5% bile tolerance, and a negative correlation with acid tolerance (p<0.01). Glycocholate deconjugation activity showed no relationship with cholesterol assimilation, whereas taurocholate deconjugation activity was shown to have negative correlation with cholesterol assimilation (p<0.05). CLA production by L. acidophilus strains exhibited a wide variation, ranging from 2.69 to 5.04 mg/g fat. CLA production of L. acidophilus GP1B was the highest among the tested strains, but there was no evidence for differences in CLA production in strain specificity. Based on these results, the cholesterol assimilation of L. acidophilus strains may not be related to deconjugation activity, but may in-fact be attributed to their bile-tolerance.