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<p>It is anticipated that this proposed project will enable the PI to establish new research in the area of probiotics for human health in a one practical research model using in-vitro experiments, mathematical modeling and animal models. The research will address the following objective: </p>
<p>Objective 1: Investigate exposure effect of commonly administered medical drugs of elderly persons over 65 years old on the death rate of Bifidobacterium microbiota. </p>
<p>Objective 2: Demonstrate the effect of commonly administered medical drugs on phenotypic/genotypic characteristics of Bifidobacterium microbiota. </p>
<p>Objective 3: Study the interaction between commonly administered medical drugs and Bifidobacterium microbiota on the intestinal function (animal model). </p>
<p>Objective 4: Develop outreach program to educate consumers about the impact of Bifidobacterium microbiota on health and human longevity. </p>
<p>Expected Outcomes - The gastrointestinal microbiota in human and animals are significantly impacted drug prescription including antibiotics. It is essential to understand the behavior and impact of the drugs on gastrointestinal microbiota specially probiotics as leading microorganisms in health for both human and animals. The project will enhance a new, innovative multidisciplinary research program studying the effect of probiotics on food science and agriculture that will have direct effect on animal health, food safety and quality, new food products and benefits to the society. Reducing the incidence and impact of disease in the elderly gastrointestinal system will reduce reliance on pharmaceuticals in treating the elderly, improve the intestinal environment for better nutritional uptake, and increase immunity reactions against harmful bacteria will be other outcomes (Brown, Shovic, Ibrahim, Holck, & Huang, 2005). The project will advance the understanding of the interaction processes between Bifidobacterium spp. and three common drug groups in elderly at in- vitro and in-vivo. Results of this project will enable us to develop protocols for efficient consumption of Bifidobacterium spp. in drug prescription condition. Understanding of the processes involved in the use of Bifidobacterium spp. for production of functional and supplemental foods. Develop educational program to address issues relate to health benefits of good bacteria on longevity is also another outcome. Overall, this project will enhance the performance of the research and educational programs at NCA&TSU in basic and applied food and nutritional science and further attract more students to the School of Agriculture. The proposed project will also help NCA&TSU engage in partnering with other research and teaching institutions as well as related industries. The results of this project could benefit elderly health in North Carolina specifically and the US in general. The functional compounds produced by probiotics will improve the overall health of the elderly.</p>
<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> The growth of the elderly population is expected to accelerate rapidly. Increasing elderly population will subsequently increase the health care costs significantly in North Carolina and throughout the nation. Several studies have shown a decrease in bifidobacteria in the intestinal microbiota with aging. Factors such as decreased immunity, concomitant changes in nutrition, increased incidence of disease and corresponding use of medication with advancing age modify the composition of the microbial community in the gastrointestinal tract. Previous researches conducted by this group are also identified positive effect of probiotics on longevity. Currently, huge amount of medicinal treatments is prescribed for elderly including anti blood pressure, anti diabetic and arthritis prescription. There are several reports of side effects and indirect
interaction of prescribed medicine on Elderly health. The side effects of prescriptions will also increase the treatment costs and negatively affect the elderly health in general. To address this issue, our group is proposing to investigate the impact of Bifidobacterium microbiota on longevity for elderly during their drug prescription using in-vitro and animal models by studying the exposure effect of commonly administered medical drugs of elderly on the death rate of Bifidobacterium microbiota. We also plan to demonstrate the effect of commonly administered medical drugs on phenotypic/genotypic characteristics of Bifidobacterium microbiota, and to study the interaction between commonly administered medical drugs and Bifidobacterium microbiota on the intestinal function (animal model). This project will improve the health of elderly and prevent consequent challenges due to frequent drug
administration and will improve health condition for elderly and reduced the costs of treatments and health care consequently.
<p>APPROACH:<br/> Objective 1 - At least four strains of bifidobacteria will be tested. These strains have identified by several research papers as most common Bifidobacterium microbiota of elderly. Bifidobacterium strains that will be used in this project: Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium longum and Bifidobacterium species Three common medical drugs used for elderly treatments are: a. Blood pressure medicines; captopril (Capoten) metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol XL) b. Diabetis; Rosiglitazone (Avandia), Glipizide (Glucotrol) and Saxagliptin (Onglyza) c. Arthritis; Advil, Nuprin, Motrin (ibuprofen), Tylenol (Paracetamol) and Aleve (naproxen sodium). These drugs will be prepared based on the general prescription levels for elderly at our designated in-vitro models. Bacterial populations will be determined by plating onto MRS agar. Colonies
will be counted after plating 48h at 37C to determine Bifidobacterium spp. population. Shape and morphological changes between treated and control bacterial samples will be monitored by helium ion microscopic method. Objective 2 - Different characteristics of Bifidobacterium against different treatments will be evaluated for viability, growth overtime (Optical density), adhesion and auto aggregation, enzyme activity, protein expression and artificial neural network for interaction between different drugs in the medium. The genotyopic characteristics will also be evaluated using RT-PCR. Proteins from bacterial cell wall membranes will be collected checked by SDS-PAGE. In order to determining the effects of the bacteria exposure to specific chemical compounds, the effects of interactions of different components will be determined. To assess log P% of Bifidobacterium spp., the experiment
will be arranged in a full factorial design. We will use the Neural Network Toolbox. In this procedure Antibiotic, antidiabetics and antiblood pressures will be input layers and hidden layer will be created in the software and output layer will be log. Objective 3 - Two indicators will be evaluated using adult BALB/c mice to investigate the interaction between drugs and Bifidobacterium spp. These indicators are 1- The populating Bifidobacterium spp. in fecal samples, 2- Weight and physiological indicators of mice. Mice applications as a model for elderly treatment have been used in several studies. They are eight groups of treatments: 1- Control, 2- Bifidobacterium only, 3- Anti blood pressure, 4- Anti diabetic, 5- Arthritis, 6- Anti blood pressure + Bifidobacterium, 7- Anti diabetic + Bifidobacterium, 8- Arthritis + Bifidobacterium Fecal samples from each mouse and gram stain will be
examined every day. Isolates will also be tested for the presence of fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase activity. Animal weights will be screened and evaluated during treatments. Physiological and physical indicators such as hair will be evaluated between treated and control animals. Objective 4 - In this objective, we plan to provide educational materials (handouts, brochures) and conduct one seminars/workshop to educate the consumers about the benefits of Bifidobacterium microbiota on health and human longevity.
<p>PROGRESS: 2013/01 TO 2013/09<br/>Target Audience: Target audience: There are different types of target audiences for this project. Researchers grouped them into three groups: 1. Academic community (students and scientists) , 2. Local communities and consumers and 3. Food and dietary supplement industry. Effort: Researchers have completed several activities to inform the audience about our findings: Researchers added one lecture to the food microbiology class to describe impact of medical drugs on probiotics. This is also includes a laboratory demonstrations (2). Several undergraduate and graduate students participated in this as practicum or special problem class (FCS 603 and FCS 637). Researchers conducted one workshop for the local community and one for high school students. In addition, the work was presented in several scientific local regional and national
conferences. Changes/Problems: The first two objectives of the project were completed successfully without any problems. The achieved results were very promising and will add great values to probiotic and human health literature. However, experimental work related to this projected was stopped due to shut down of our laboratory. Our laboratory was closed in Oct, 2013 which stopped the work and progress of this project. This unexpected close to our laboratory may affect our ability to meet with project completion deadlines. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Overall, this project enhanced the performance of the research and educational programs at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in basic and applied food and nutritional sciences, and could attract more students to the School of Agriculture and Environmental
Sciences. The project also helped N.C. A&T partner with other research and teaching institutions and related industries. The results from this project will be shared with the students, staff and faculty members at N.C A&T. In addition, this project will have a direct impact on the educational program in food science at N.C. A&T. The project gave the following high school students from the summer 2013 Research Apprenticeship Programthe opportunity to participate: Kendall A. Mack, Junior- KIPP Atlanta Collegiate. Impact of Medical Drugs on the Enzymatic Activity of Human Gut Natural Flora. PI: Dr Salam A. Ibrahim Jade Steele, Senior- Westmoore High School. Interaction between Bifidobacteria Strains and Medical Drugs. PI: Dr Salam A. Ibrahim Graduate and undergraduate students are involved in this project. Students are planning to attend to local, regional and national
conferences to present their research findings. The undergraduate students are: Ms. Marcella Cheek Mr. Carlos Carter Mr. Ariostotle Nelson Ms. Angelica Duff The graduate students are: Ms. Mr. Temitayo O. Obanla, M.S. student Mr. Yousif Abdulsalam, Ph.D. student Ms. Amira A. Ayed, Ph.D. student Ms. Bernice D. Karlton-Senaye. Ph.D. student How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Workshops and seminars: Ag Biotech Entrepreneurial Showcase, The NC Biotechnology Center,15 T W Alexander, Durham, NC 27703, Thursday, October 10, 2013. Biological Safety Workshop, U.S.Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T W Alexander Dr. Triangle, NC27711, Monday, March 4, 2013 Food health and probiotics workshop including five presentations covered current issues related to food science. Career and Technical Education Summer Conference 2013, Family and Consumer Sciences Education.
Jul-2013. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We plan to continue to work on objectives 3 and 4. One MS student and one PhD student will be working on this project during this year, 2014. At least two manuscripts will be developed from the completed work and will be submitted to high quality scientific journal for possible publication. The work will be presented in different national and international conferences.
<p>PROGRESS: 2012/01/01 TO 2012/12/31<br/>OUTPUTS: In this study, we have tested the impact of several drugs commonly used by elderly (Aleve, Aspirin, Glipizide, Lesinopril, and Tylenol) on the survival of five Bifidobacterium strains (B. breve, B. longum, B. infantis, B. adolescentis, and B. bifidum). Researchers have found that intake of these medicines can decrease bifidobacterial population by an average of approximately 3.0 log CFU/ml. Our findings demonstrated that intake of medications has significant affect (P IMPACT: 2012/01/01 TO 2012/12/31Several previous research
projects have reported on the age related physiological changes in the gastrointestinal tract that ultimately affect the gut microbial ecosystem. Prescription drugs are also believed to be the most common cause of reduction in healthy intestinal microbiota, and the elderly are among the groups affected the most. Studies of the impact of such medications on gut microbiota, especially friendly bacteria (probiotics), are very limited. Therefore, the results of this study could provide information about the impact of common drugs on probiotics in the human gut. This project will also help elderly citizens to understand the importance of probiotics, and how they can improve overall health. Findings of the project could have a major impact on reducing health costs for the elderly. In addition, this study will help to promote and implement the concept of healthy food for healthy living,
ultimately increasing longevity. Since probiotics and longevity are of interest globally, this project will enable our program to create synergies with other research institutions. Researchers expect this study to provide new knowledge that can be used to positively impact human health and wellbeing, especially among the elderly.
<p>PROGRESS: 2011/01/01 TO 2011/12/31<br/>OUTPUTS: Research on this project has just commenced. The researchers will: (1) Establish experiment conditions, procedures and establish the optimal operational method for the project. In this part of the project, we developed the required condition for proper operation of common medical drugs on the Bifidobacterium spp. The optimum condition includes, but is not limited to pH, temperature, growth medium condition and bacterial strains. (2) Provide a detail list of material needed to conduct the experiment according to the defined optimum condition in Step 1. (3) Develop detailed protocols for production of Bifidobacterium spp. We developed a complete standard operating procedure (SOP) for different growth conditions of the Bifidobacterium spp. to optimize interaction of the bacteria during the drug test activities. (4)
Investigate on all available mathematical models for Bifidobacterium spp. production. We investigated and organized a well defined mathematical method to determine the possible responses by Bifidobacterium spp. The mathematical model will be used after exposing the medical drugs in different combinations on Bifidobacterium spp. to determine all possible combinations of the treatments without conducting the individual treatments using probability theory. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Salam Ibrahim, Professor and PI, North Carolina A&T State University Dr. Mehrdad Tajkarimi Research associate North Carolina A&T State University TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.