EVALUATING THE IRON BIOAVAILABILITY FROM EXOPOLYSACCHARIDE KAR1- IRON COMPLEX AND ITS EFFECT ON ANAEMIC RAT MODEL
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Date
2022
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ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL
Abstract
Iron deficiency anaemia is the most common micronutrient deficiency disorder among people of different age groups, for which effective nutritional strategies are warranted to tackle its devastating effects on public health. The present study investigated the iron bioavailability from an EPSKar1-iron complex using Caco-2 cells and anaemic rats. Exopolysaccharide (EPSKar1) extracted from Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus Kar1 had the carbohydrate and protein content of 78.33±0.86% and 3.58±0.27%, respectively. Upon purification by ion-exchange chromatography, the carbohydrate and protein concentrations were found to be 95.42±0.04% and 0.30±0.02%, respectively. The purified EPSkar1 was complexed with FeSO4 iron salt and the obtained 100 mg EPSKar1-iron complex contained 53.65±0.04 mg EPSKar1 and 44.26±0.14 mg iron. During simulated gastro-intestinal digestion of 100 mg EPSKar1-iron complex; 9.20±0.23 mg of free iron was released at the intestinal phase corresponding to 20.92±0.53% iron bio-accessibility. When the cytotoxicity of iron and EPSKar1 was evaluated on Caco-2 cells, no significant difference (p <0.05) in the loss of viability was found at the highest concentration of EPSKar1 (75 mg/mL) and FeSO4 (10 mg/mL). In iron bioavailability study using Caco-2 cells, there was a significant increase (p <0.05) in the iron uptake from the cells treated with EPSKar1-iron complex (61.27±1.96%) compared to FeSO4 salt (28.04±0.50%). The synthesis of ferritin by the Caco-2 cells was significantly increased (p <0.05) after absorbing iron from EPSKar1-iron complex (32.72±0.73 ng/mL) than from only FeSO4 salt (21.77±0.10 ng/mL). Further, the EPSKar1-iron complex was experimented on anaemic rats for a period of 20 days to evaluate iron bioavailability after inducing anaemia by feeding iron free diet for 62 days. The apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC), % iron balance, and % retention/intake was found to be significantly higher (p <0.05) in rats fed with the highest concentration of complex (50 mg/Kg BW), when compared to only FeSO4 fed rats and the rats fed with 25 mg EPSKar1-iron complex/Kg BW. These results were consistent throughout the experimental period of 20 days. There was a significant increase (p <0.05) in the blood haemoglobin content (12.76±0.19 g/dL) of rats fed with higher concentration of complex when compared to rats fed with low concentration of complex (11.91±0.29 g/dL) and only FeSO4 fed rats (10.54±0.21 g/dL). The iron absorption indicators like transferrin and ferritin were found to be significantly higher (p <0.05) in high concentration complex fed rats when compared with only FeSO4 and low concentration complex fed rats. Taken together, these findings suggest that the iron in EPSKar1 complex form has greater bioavailability than uncomplexed iron. Hence, the complex may serve as an ideal molecule for fortifying food products as a source of iron fortificant. Nevertheless, further human clinical trials are highly warranted in order to validate it as an effective nutraceutical for an anaemic group of population.