RESUMEN
Arabinoxylans are part of dietary fibre and have received attention given their emergent prebiotic character. Four arabinoxylans extracts were obtained from Argentinian soft and hard wheat. In vitro assays were performed to describe the extent to which the extracts from whole wheat flour support selective growth of Bifidobacterium breve and probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC23272 in a defined media. The prebiotic effect was evaluated by three quantitative scores: relative growth, prebiotic activity score and prebiotic index. For prebiotic index equation the growth of Bacteroides and Clostridium strains was compared to that of bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria. All the arabinoxylans extracts supported the growth of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, reaching higher prebiotic activity score values than inulin (0·37 and 0·36 for Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium respectively). AX2 from soft wheat and AX4 from hard showed similar prebiotic index value to commercial inulin (2·64, 2·52 and 2·22 respectively), and AX3 extract presented higher prebiotic index value (4·09) than the positive control and other prebiotic index reported for arabinoxylans. These extracts could be used as prebiotic, synbiotic compositions or novel food prototypes to treat dysbiosis associated with many diseases. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The present work demonstrates that AX extracts from Argentinian soft and hard wheat promote efficiently the growth of probiotic strain L. reuteri ATCC23272 and B. breve 286, validated with three different parameters that consider the growth of representative strains of Bacteria genera found in the gut. The evaluation of AX extracts as a food supplement in a murine model could confirm their ability to modulate the microbiome. Novel food prototypes including AX and probiotics could relieve local symptoms and may act as psychobiotics with a beneficial effect on microbiome-brain axis.