April 20, 2026 | News & Notices
Study Reveals How the Viability of Lactic Acid Bacteria Shapes Their Function in the Gut
Results of Collaborative Research with Tohoku University and ITO EN Published in the Cell Press journal iScience
A research group including members from the Graduate School of Agricultural Science at Tohoku University, ITO EN, LTD., and Shimadzu Corporation has used a gut bacteria co-culture device developed by Shimadzu to co-culture swine small intestinal epithelial cells with live or heat-treated lactic acid bacteria (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum [strain JCM 1149T]), revealing that differences in bacterial viability influence the metabolic and immune responses of the intestinal epithelial cells. There are now plans to verify the broader applicability of these findings by comparing the functions of live and heat-treated bacteria using commercially available strains of lactic acid bacteria. Further elucidating the differences in their action is expected to lead to their application in foods and functional ingredients tailored to specific purposes, such as improving metabolism and regulating immune function. Shimadzu’s gut bacteria co-culture device, as a new research platform for analyzing interactions between microorganisms and biological cells, is expected to contribute to the advancement of probiotics research and functional food research. The findings of this research were published online on March 31, 2026, in the internationally recognized journal iScience, which is published by the U.S. publisher Cell Press.
About the Published Paper
| Title | ： | Live and heat-treated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum induce distinct metabolic and immune responses in intestinal epithelial cells |
| Authors | ： | Kaho Matsumoto (Tohoku University), Yuta Takada (Tohoku University), Yoshiya Imamura (Tohoku University), Hina Yoshida (Tohoku University), Kazuhiro Sonomura (Shimadzu), Mikako Takahashi (Shimadzu), Nobuko Moritoki (Keio University), Tomoko Shindo (Keio University), Junya Yamamoto (ITO EN), Leonardo Albarracin (Tohoku University), Wakako Ikeda-Ohtsubo (Tohoku University), Masatoshi Hori (Tohoku University), Julio Villena (Tohoku University), Fu Namai (Tohoku University), Yuji Tsujikawa (ITO EN), Toyoyuki Hashimoto (Shimadzu), Keita Nishiyama (Tohoku University), and Haruki Kitazawa (Tohoku University) |
| Publishing journal | ： | iScience |
| DOI | ： | 10.1016/j.isci.2026.115516 |
| URL | ： | https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)00891-6 |
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