In Vitro Assessment of Food-Derived Bioaccessibility and Bioavailability in Bicameral Cell Culture System

Abstract

Background: Functional foods can help prevent metabolic diseases, and it is essential to evaluate functional characteristics of foods through in vitro and in vivo experimental approaches. Objective: We aimed to use the bicameral cell culture system combined with the in vitro digestion to evaluate glucose bioavailability. Materials and methods: Cake, almond paste, and pudding were modified by adding fiber and replacing sugar with sweeteners and polyols. Digestion process was modeled in test tubes. Rat enterocyte cells (IEC-6) were grown in a bicameral cell culture system to mimic the physiological characteristics of the human intestine. The glucose bioaccessibility and cellular glucose efflux were measured by glucose oxidase assay. Results and discussion: The glucose bioaccessibilities of modified foods were significantly lower (cake: 2.6 fold, almond paste: 9.2 fold, pudding 2.8 fold) than the controls. Cellular glucose effluxes also decreased in the modified cake, almond paste, and pudding by 2.2, 4, and 2 fold respectively compared to their controls. Conclusion: Our results suggest that combining in vitro enzymatic digestion with cell culture studies can be a practical way to test in vitro glucose bioaccessibility and bioavailability in functional food development.