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. 2015 Jun 19:6:629.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00629. eCollection 2015.

Is lactate an undervalued functional component of fermented food products?

Graciela L Garrote  1 , Analía G Abraham  2 , Martín Rumbo  3
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Is lactate an undervalued functional component of fermented food products?

Graciela L Garrote et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Although it has been traditionally regarded as an intermediate of carbon metabolism and major component of fermented dairy products contributing to organoleptic and antimicrobial properties of food, there is evidence gathered in recent years that lactate has bioactive properties that may be responsible of broader properties of functional foods. Lactate can regulate critical functions of several key players of the immune system such as macrophages and dendritic cells, being able to modulate inflammatory activation of epithelial cells as well. Intraluminal levels of lactate derived from fermentative metabolism of lactobacilli have been shown to modulate inflammatory environment in intestinal mucosa. The molecular mechanisms responsible to these functions, including histone deacetylase dependent-modulation of gene expression and signaling through G-protein coupled receptors have started to be described. Since lactate is a major fermentation product of several bacterial families with probiotic properties, we here propose that it may contribute to some of the properties attributed to these microorganisms and in a larger view, to the properties of food products fermented by lactic acid bacteria.

Keywords: bioactive properties; fermentation; functional food; lactate; probiotics.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Different mechanisms that mediate lactate bioactive effects. Lactate luminal intestinal levels are contributed by lactate present in ingested food and also by that produced by intestinal microorganisms. The local lactate pool in the mucosal cellular environment is contributed by microbial species able to adhere to mucus/cell surface and may target epithelial cells as well as immune cells present in the lamina propria (Left). Lactate may influence cellular activities by at least three independent ways: (i) by modulating gene expression through modification of histone deacetylase activity (HDAC), (ii) by triggering different signaling pathways by GPR81, (iii) by inducing changes in metabolic pathways such as reducing glycolysis rate (Center). As a consequence of these cellular processes, different functional effects are achieved (Right).
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