Examining effects of milk ferment components on endothelial cell signaling in pro-inflammatory pathways

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a complex, multifactorial, inflammatory disease involving cholesterol, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, macrophages and platelets. Atherosclerosis, and the associated cardiovascular diseases it contributes to, has been a growing health care and economic concern over the last 50 years. Bioactive peptides found in fermented milk have been shown to have cardio and athero-protective effects, but their mechanism has not been fully elucidated. The objective of this study was to test individual components of milk fermentation and macrophage conditioning in order to determine how fermented milk bioactive peptides best exert their effects. This study shows that protein secretions from bacteria, whole and fermented milk ferments and supernatants from macrophages conditioned with fermented milk do not down-regulate inflammatory activity in cultured endothelial cells, however moderate anti-inflammatory nitric oxide (NO) production by cultured endothelial cells was seen with peptides derived from the milk β -casein sequence, warranting further study.