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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

The Cultivation, Growth, and Viability of Lactic Acid Bacteria: A Quality Control Perspective
Published on: June 16, 2022
Lactic acid bacteria of the Leuconostoc genus with high innate immunity-stimulating activity
Masaki Ishii1, Satoshi Nishida, Keiko Kataoka
1Genome pharmaceuticals institute Co. Ltd.
Abstract:
We screened lactic acid bacteria that exhibited high innate immunity-stimulating activity by monitoring muscle contraction activity in silkworms. Heat-treated fractions of lactic acid bacteria, Leuconostoc carnosum #7-2, Leuconostoc gelidum #4-2, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides 8/11-3, had high (250-460 units/mg) innate immunity-stimulating activity. These lactic acid bacteria proliferated in milk to concentrations of 1 × 106 colony forming unit/mL. The present findings suggest that the silkworm muscle contraction assay is useful for screening lactic acid bacteria with high innate immunity-stimulating activity, and that the assay can be used for the production of fermented foods made from milk.
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