Impact of consumption of a cheese containing three Lactic Acid Bacteria on the oral microbiota of rats
Résumé
Fermented food consumption is recommended for health and environmental purposes. While it is known to impact gut microbiota, further investigation is needed to establish connections with the oral microbiota. For this purpose, we investigated the effect of daily consumption of a model cheese containing three Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) species on the oral microbiota of rats following a 3-weeks diet. Cheese consumption transiently modifies the oral microbiota and leads to a transient persistence of LAB in the oral cavity of 1/3 of the animals. While we found no differences in salivary microbiota composition between rats with and without LAB persistence before cheese exposure, salivary proteome was found different in these two groups. Particularly, an overrepresentation of salivary proteins involved in the response to oxidative stress was observed in animals without LAB persistence, which may partly explain the variability in terms of bacteria persistence. These findings highlight the significance of fermented foods in shaping the diversity of the oral microbiota. Additionally, they suggest that variations in the salivary proteome among individuals may influence the permissiveness of the oral microbiota towards exogenous microorganisms.