Current Topic in Lactic Acid Bacteria and Probiotics
Korean Society for Lactic Acid Bacteria and Probiotics
Article

김치 발효에 관여하는 유산균 및 면역 조절 기능

장자영, 김태운*
Ja-Young Jang, Tae-Woon Kim*
세계김치연구소 세계화연구본부
Globalization Research Department, World Institute of Kimchi, Gwangju 503-360, Korea
*Corresponding author: Tae-Woon Kim, Globalization Research Department, World Institute of Kimchi, Gwangju 503-360, Korea. Tel: 82-62-610-1723, Fax: 82-62-610-1853, E-mail: korkimchiman@wikim.re.kr

Copyright © Korean Society for Lactic Acid Bacteria. All rights reserved. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jun 30, 2019

Abstract

Kimchi is a Korean traditional food, which refers to the fermented vegetable product. Major ingredients and various condiments (especially, red pepper, garlic and jeotgal) are used in kimchi preparation. It is known to be an important source of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber as well as a good dietary source of lactic acid bacteria for human. Kimchi fermentation is initiated by various microorganisms originally present in the raw materials, but the fermentation is gradually dominated by lactic acid bacteria. Analysis of the kimchi microbiota using culture-based identification method and metagenomic analysis indicated that Leuconostoc citreum, Leu. gasicomitatum, Leu. gelidum, Leu. mesenteroides, Lactobacillus sakei, and Weissella koreensis were dominant microbe in several different kimchi samples. There has been much recent interest in the use of various strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi as probiotics. The characteristics of lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi as a immunomodulator that have been studied include survival in gastric conditions, colonization of the intestine, anticancer effects, stimulation of the immune system 1) proliferation of splenocytes and Peyer's patch cells, 2) production on nitric oxide (NO) by macrophages, 3) production of intestinal secretory IgA, 4) modulation of tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α and interlenkin(IL)-12 concentration, 5) production of specific IgG. This review describes diversity of lactic acid bacteria in kimchi and immunomodulatory activities of lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi.

Keywords: kimchi; lactic acid bacteria; immunomodulatory activity; probiotics