In this study, we investigated the effect of Lactobacillus crispatus KT-11 strain (KT-11) on production of interleukin (IL)-12 produced from a mouse macrophage-like cell line, J774.1stimulated with a few lactic acid bacteria and some bacteria cell components.
 The amount of IL-12 was significantly higher in J774.1 cell cultures with KT-11 than in those without KT-11. The amount of IL-12 was also significantly higher in J774.1 cell cultures with a few lactic acid bacteria and Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 ligand in the presence of KT-11 than in those in the absence of KT-11. On the other hand, KT-11 stimulated the expression of TLR2 on J774.1 cells.
 These results suggest that KT-11 promotes IL-12 produced from the J774.1 cells stimulated with a few lactic acid bacteria and TLR2 ligand via an up-regulation of TLR2 expression.

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 The purpose of this paper was to elucidate the milk processing system of Amdo-Tibetan pastoralists (a nomad and an agro-pastoralist) in the eastern Qinghai Province. In the Amdo area, the milk processing techniques of fermented milk processing series, cream separating series and coagulating-additives using series were wildly utilized over the subsistence groups. The characteristics of fermented milk processing series was that 1) the churning was conducted after natural fermentation of raw milk or adding sour milk into raw milk, 2) the both stirring tank/stick and leather bag were used as the churn, 3) the extraction of milk fat was terminated by butter as the consumption purpose, and 4) the unripened dry cheese was processed by heating and dehydrating buttermilk. The cream separating series and coagulating-additives using series were not main milk processing techniques in the Amdo area. The important future discussion topic is to clarify the origin and development process of milk processing system in the Amdo-Tibetan pastoralist through the comparative analysis with surrounding area.

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 Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum, B. breve and B. animalis subsp. lactis are among the species most frequently applied to powdered milk products. An international standard method has been published for the enumeration of bifidobacteria in milk products such as fermented and non-fermented milks, powdered milk, infant formula and starter cultures. This standard designates the medium as transgalactosylated oligosaccharide propionate (TOSP) agar supplemented with mupirocin and the diluent as quarter-strength Ringer's solution or other suitable solutions; however, some points still need to be improved. We have previously shown that the diluents used for the enumeration of bifidobacteria in powdered milk products greatly affected the viable counts of bifidobacteria and demonstrated that Mitsuoka's buffer yielded significantly higher bifidobacteria counts than did Ringer's solution. In this study, we aimed to develop suspension buffer for efficient enumeration of bifidobacteria and develop media for the selective enumeration of bifidobacterial species in powdered milk products. Supplementation of Mitsuoka's buffer with Tween-80 and peptone was found to improve the recovery of viable counts of bifidobacteria added to powder milk. The modified Mitsuoka's buffer yielded significantly higher viable counts when tested on 19 commercial powdered products containing bifidobacteria than the original Mitsuoka's buffer. RCM agars supplemented with L-arabinose and D-sorbitol or D-mannitol as the sole carbohydrate sources were found to be suitable for selective enumeration of B. longum subsp. longum and B. breve, respectively. These results provide practical and useful information regarding the efficient enumeration of bifidobacteria and selective enumeration of selected bifidobacterial species in powdered milk products.

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