The bifidogenic effect of goat's milk oligosaccharides is dependent on their structural features

Resumen del trabajo presentado al VII Workshop Probióticos, Prebióticos y Salud. Evidencia Científica, celebrado en Sevilla del 28 al 29 de enero de 2016.Goat's milk and dairy products are important in the Mediterranean diet due to their nutritional and health-promoting properties. Renewed interest for their bioactive constituents including oligosaccharides with potential prebiotic properties has recently emerged. From a structural point of view, goat's milk oligosaccharides (GMO) show significant similarities to human milk oligosaccharides. Studies in animal models have proven that GMO have the potential to influence the microbial composition and can reduce inflammatory processes within the gastrointestinal tract. In this work, a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS) methodology was used for the separation and quantitation of the main GMO (acidic, neutral and fucosylated carbohydrates) at different stages of lactation (colostrum to 40 d). The highest concentration of GMO was found in colostrum samples where up to 78 oligosaccharides were identified by Nano-LC-Chip TOF MS. During the first days of lactation, neutral GMO significantly decreased; changes in the chromatographic profiles and relative abundance of GMO at the different stages of lactation were observed. By using fecal samples of eight infant donors (from 6 months to 2 years old), in vitro incubation studies of goat colostrum oligosaccharides and GMO (30 d of lactation) in comparison with commercial galacto-oligosaccharides were carried out. Goat colostrum oligosaccharides did not affect the growth of the different bacterial groups studied whereas GMO exerted a strong bifidogenic effect; such effect was dependent of basal levels of bifidobacteria. These data support a direct relationship between GMO composition and their bifidogenic properties.Peer Reviewe