Isolation and identification of like Bifidobacterium bacteria from traditional Tarkhineh food and evaluation of their ability to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in vitro

Isolation and identification of bacteria with useful properties from local products can play an important role in introducing unique types of probiotics. The aim of this study was to isolate, identify and evaluation of the ability of Bifidobacterium bacteria isolated from Tarkhineh traditional food in lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels of the culture medium. Native strains of Bifidobacterium were isolated from a local food called Tarkhineh using general and specific culture media and identified based on phenotypic characteristics, standard biochemical tests and 16S rRNA sequencing. Then, samples with probiotic properties such as resistance to acid and bile were examined in terms of sensitivity to common antibiotics. Cholesterol and triglyceride lowering activity of their culture medium was also measured by o-phthaldehyde method. During this study, 210 bacteria were isolated from Tarkhineh food, including 13 strains of like Bifidobacterium bacteria. Among them, 10 strains were resistant to acid and bile condition. Antibiotic susceptibility analysis showed that most strains were sensitive to common antibiotics and S4 and S1 strains reduced cholesterol in culture medium by 75 ± 0.58 and 71±0.13%, respectively (p<0.01). Among the strains, strains S4, S10 and S1 applied 65%, 63% and 62% reduction of the medium triglyceride, respectively. The data of this study showed that the probiotics isolated from the local food of Tarkhineh had the potential to absorb and reduce cholesterol and triglycerides of the culture medium to a significant extent. It seems that the potential of these strains to improve the lipid pattern can be further investigated.