Protective Effect of an Exopolysaccharide Produced by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BGAN8 Against Cadmium-Induced Toxicity in Caco-2 Cells

Emilija Brdarić; Svetlana Soković Bajić; Jelena Đokić; Slađana Đurđić; Patricia Ruas-Madiedo; Magdalena Stevanović; Maja Tolinački; Miroslav Dinić; Jelena Mutić; Nataša Golić; Milica Živković

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.759378

Protective Effect of an Exopolysaccharide Produced by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BGAN8 Against Cadmium-Induced Toxicity in Caco-2 Cells

Front Microbiol. 2021 Nov 1:12:759378. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.759378. eCollection 2021.

Affiliations

¹ Group for Probiotics and Microbiota-Host Interaction, Laboratory for Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
² Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
³ Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry of Dairy Products, Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IPLA-CSIC), Asturias, Spain.
⁴ Institute of Technical Sciences, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia.

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) ranks seventh on the list of most significant potential threats to human health based on its suspected toxicity and the possibility of exposure to it. It has been reported that some bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPSs) have the ability to bind heavy metal ions. We therefore investigated the capacity of eight EPS-producing lactobacilli to adsorb Cd in the present study, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BGAN8 was chosen as the best candidate. In addition, we demonstrate that an EPS derived from BGAN8 (EPS-AN8) exhibits a high Cd-binding capacity and prevents Cd-mediated toxicity in intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. Simultaneous use of EPS-AN8 with Cd treatment prevents inflammation, disruption of tight-junction proteins, and oxidative stress. Our results indicate that the EPS in question has a strong potential to be used as a postbiotic in combatting the adverse effects of Cd. Moreover, we show that higher concentrations of EPS-AN8 can alleviate Cd-induced cell damage.

Keywords: Lactiplantibacillus plantarum; cadmium; cellular junctions; exopolysaccharides; inflammation; intestinal epithelial cells; oxidative stress.