INFOGEST static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal food digestion

• Published in: Nature protocols Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 991 - 1014
• Main Authors: Brodkorb, André, Egger, Lotti, Alminger, Marie, Alvito, Paula, Assunção, Ricardo, Ballance, Simon, Bohn, Torsten, Bourlieu-Lacanal, Claire, Boutrou, Rachel, Carrière, Frédéric, Clemente, Alfonso, Corredig, Milena, Dupont, Didier, Dufour, Claire, Edwards, Cathrina, Golding, Matt, Karakaya, Sibel, Kirkhus, Bente, Le Feunteun, Steven, Lesmes, Uri, Macierzanka, Adam, Mackie, Alan R., Martins, Carla, Marze, Sébastien, McClements, David Julian, Ménard, Olivia, Minekus, Mans, Portmann, Reto, Santos, Cláudia N., Souchon, Isabelle, Singh, R. Paul, Vegarud, Gerd E., Wickham, Martin S. J., Weitschies, Werner, Recio, Isidra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.04.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/1647/767/2199; 631/443/319; 631/45; 631/45/607; Amino acids; Amino Acids - analysis; Amino Acids - chemistry; Analysis; Analytical Chemistry; Bile; Bile - enzymology; Biological Techniques; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomimetic Materials - chemistry; Biomimetic Materials - metabolism; Computational Biology/Bioinformatics; Digestion; Digestion - physiology; Digestive system; Dilution; Eating - physiology; Electrolytes; Enzymatic activity; Enzyme Assays - standards; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids - analysis; Fatty Acids - chemistry; Food; Food and Nutrition; Food composition; Food engineering; Food Ingredients - analysis; Food matrix; Gastric Juice - enzymology; Gastrointestinal system; Gastrointestinal tract; Humans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hydrolysis; In vitro tests; Intestine; Intestines - enzymology; Laboratory equipment; Life Sciences; Lipase; Medical protocols; Microarrays; Micronutrients; Models, Biological; Mouth - enzymology; Neurovetenskaper; Oligosaccharides - analysis; Oligosaccharides - chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Peptide Fragments - analysis; Peptide Fragments - chemistry; Peptides; pH effects; Physiology; Protocol; Saliva - enzymology; Simulation; Stomach - enzymology; Sugar; Technology application; France; static model; simulation models; allégations nutritionnelles et de santé; modèle de simulation; composition de l'aliment; micronutriment; modèle statique un vitro; nutrition; digestion gastrique in vitro; santé humaine; cinétique de digestion; modèle statique; digestion gastrointestinale; structure de l'aliment
• ISSN: 1754-2189; 1750-2799; 1750-2799
• DOI: 10.1038/s41596-018-0119-1

Developing a mechanistic understanding of the impact of food structure and composition on human health has increasingly involved simulating digestion in the upper gastrointestinal tract. These simulations have used a wide range of different conditions that often have very little physiological relevance, and this impedes the meaningful comparison of results. The standardized protocol presented here is based on an international consensus developed by the COST INFOGEST network. The method is designed to be used with standard laboratory equipment and requires limited experience to encourage a wide range of researchers to adopt it. It is a static digestion method that uses constant ratios of meal to digestive fluids and a constant pH for each step of digestion. This makes the method simple to use but not suitable for simulating digestion kinetics. Using this method, food samples are subjected to sequential oral, gastric and intestinal digestion while parameters such as electrolytes, enzymes, bile, dilution, pH and time of digestion are based on available physiological data. This amended and improved digestion method (INFOGEST 2.0) avoids challenges associated with the original method, such as the inclusion of the oral phase and the use of gastric lipase. The method can be used to assess the endpoints resulting from digestion of foods by analyzing the digestion products (e.g., peptides/amino acids, fatty acids, simple sugars) and evaluating the release of micronutrients from the food matrix. The whole protocol can be completed in ~7 d, including ~5 d required for the determination of enzyme activities. Brodkorb et al. provide a standardized static in vitro protocol for the study of gastrointestinal food digestion and the analysis of digestion products.