Comparative Study of Bromelain Extracted from Skin and Fruit Pulp of Sarawak Pineapple (Ananas Cosmosus.Cv Sarawak) and its Antimicrobial Activity on Lactobacillus Casei Strain Shirota

Leong, Kian Loong (2019) Comparative Study of Bromelain Extracted from Skin and Fruit Pulp of Sarawak Pineapple (Ananas Cosmosus.Cv Sarawak) and its Antimicrobial Activity on Lactobacillus Casei Strain Shirota. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Pineapple fruit belonging to the Bromeliaceae family, which contains a proteolytic enzyme known as bromelain. Bromelain is found throughout the pineapple plant and it is known to have anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antithrombotic activities. The present study was carried out to determine the concentration of bromelain in the skin and pulp of Sarawak pineapple (Ananas cosmosus.L. Merr CV Sarawak) and its antimicrobial activity. Bromelain was extracted by ammonium sulphate precipitation method and its concentration was then estimated by using Bradford assay. Bromelain activity was then determined by gelatin digestion unit (GDU) method and its antimicrobial effect was tested on a probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota isolated from Yakult, a probiotic drink. It was found that the pineapple pulp (1790±97.13 μg/mL) contains higher total protein content than the skin (1150±110.60 μg/mL). It was also found that the pulp (16362±6636.92 Units/mg) possessed higher enzymatic activity compared to the skin (3003±2344.49 Units/mg). The results also demonstrated that both the skin and fruit extracts were unable to inhibit the growth of L. casei. There was also no signs of inhibition with 0.25g/ml of bromelain (positive control). The enzymatic activity of crude bromelain from Sarawak pineapple was found to be higher in the pulp compared to the skin and does not exhibit antimicrobial activity on Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota. The results of enzyme activity assay can be improved by using non-specific protease activity assay and other Lactobacillus species could be tested in future studies.