Simulated gastrointestinal digestion of nisin and interaction between nisin and bile

Nisin, an antimicrobial peptide showing activity against many Gram positive bacteria, is widely used as a food preservative. The simulated gastrointestinal digestion of nisin (variant A) was studied using the in vitro INFOGEST digestion method. Following oral, gastric and small intestinal digestion, there was no intact nisin in the system and the nisin was primarily digested by pancreatin. After digestion, six nisin fragments (1–11, 1–12, 1–20, 1–21, 1–29 and 1–32) were identified by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy and four of these nisin fragments (1–20, 1–21, 1–29 and 1–32) demonstrated low antibacterial activity against Lactococcus lactis HP in agar diffusion activity assays. Additionally, it was observed that bile salts form a complex with nisin. This was examined by atomic force microscopy, turbidity and dynamic light scattering, which showed that this interaction resulted in significantly larger bile salt micelles. The presence of bile salts at physiological levels significantly altered the relative amounts of the nisin fragments 1–12, 1–20 and 1–29 produced during an in vitro digestion. This study highlights the importance of including bile in simulated digestions of antimicrobial peptides in order to obtain a more accurate simulation of the in vivo digestion products and their activity.