Whey is a by-product produced in the cheese manufacturing process, and the amount of whey production is 10 times more than that of cheese. Recently various functions have been proven, and it is used as a food additive and health promoting supplement. ...
Whey is a by-product produced in the cheese manufacturing process, and the amount of whey production is 10 times more than that of cheese. Recently various functions have been proven, and it is used as a food additive and health promoting supplement. By inducing the hydrolysis of whey protein bioconversion through microbial fermentation, it can release bioactive compounds from the precursor protein. In particular, it is known that milk-derived bioactive peptides can exhibit various physiological functions such as antihypertension, immune regulation, antioxidant, and antithrombosis. Periodontal disease is the most common disease that occurs in the oral cavity, and periodontitis is a major cause of tooth loss in adults. In order to alleviate the side effects by antibiotics and physical therapies, interest in natural substitutes is increasing. Therefore, in this study, the efficacy of relieving periodontitis was confirmed by utilizing the whey bioconversion products. The whey bioconversion products was prepared using the lactic acid bacteria Enterococcus faecalis M157 KACC81148BP isolated from raw milk, and bioconversion products supplemented with bacteriocin active fraction was prepared together to confirm the efficacy of the whey bioconversion products. In in vitro experiments, the antimicrobial effect on periodontal pathogens, antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity, and hemolytic properties of the E. faecalis whey bioconversion products were confirmed. In an in vivo experiment, E. faecalis whey bioconversion products were administered orally and dispensed to the site ligatured with the lower right maxillary first molar tooth for 8 weeks in periodontitis animal models. Histopathologicalal analysis and micro-CT analysis of gingival tissue were performed, and the expression levels of inflammation and oxidative stress-related proteins in gingival tissue and colon were confirmed through Western blot to confirm the effect of relieving periodontitis. In the antimicrobial effect on periodontal pathogens, whey bioconversion products prepared using E. faecalis M157 KACC81148BP (M157) and the bioconversion products supplemented with bacteriocin active fraction (M157+) exerted antimicrobial effect on Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Fusobacterium nucleatum. In antioxidant activity test, M157 and M157+ showed no significant difference with ascorbic acid used as a positive control. Cytotoxicity was not shown in HT-29 cells, and it was confirmed that there was no hemolytic properties. After the treatment of the whey bioconversion products and the whey bioconversion products supplemented with bacteriocin active fraction to Wistar rats that induced periodontitis, as a result of histopathologicalal analysis, epithelial proliferation and inflammatory cell infiltration occurred in the PE group. Compared to the PE group, it was confirmed that epithelial proliferation and invasion of inflammatory cells were expressed lower in the PE+M157 and PE+M157+ groups administered with the whey bioconversion products and the whey bioconversion products supplemented with bacteriocin active fraction. As a result of micro-CT analysis, bone volume/total volume (BV/TV), bone surface/bone volume (BS/BV), and bone loss volume were inspected in the treated group. In the PE+M157+ group administered with the bioconversion products supplemented with bacteriocin active fraction, BV/TV was significantly increased and bone loss volume was significantly decreased compared to the PE group. BS/BV was significantly decreased in PE+M157, PE+M157+ groups compared to the PE group. As a result of the expression levels of proteins related to inflammation (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10) and oxidative stress (SOD1, CAT, GPx-1) through Western blot in gingival tissue and colon, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects were shown in the PE+M157 and PE+M157+ groups. Therefore, based on the results of this study, the whey bioconversion products prepared with E. faecalis M157 KACC81148BP has shown the relieve effect on periodontitis.