Anaerobic cultivation processes of probiotic bacteria in the BioLector XT microbioreactor
Probiotics are living bacteria that are said to have a health-promoting benefit and biofunctional effects on the human organism. They are commonly used to increase the number of desirable bacteria in the intestine and to regenerate the intestinal flora, for example after antibiotic treatments. That is one reason why the market for probiotics or probiotic nutritional supplements has greatly increased in value. The research field of the human intestinal microbiome and its health-promoting benefits is particularly important for the nutrition industry. Therefore, scientific research on anaerobic or microaerophilic cultivation techniques, such as the cultivation of probiotics under microbiome-like conditions, is essential. Probiotics include a whole range of anaerobic bacteria such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium. Among the various probiotic bacteria, Bifidobacterium spp. is one of the most widely used and studied. They are classified as strict anaerobes due to the incapability of oxygen respiration and growth under aerobic cultivation conditions and they are a major member of the dominant human gut microbiota.