Gastro‐Intestinal Digested Bovine Milk Osteopontin Modulates Gut Barrier Biomarkers In Vitro

Scope Osteopontin (OPN) is a multifunctional protein naturally present in mammals’ milk, associated with immune homeostasis and intestinal maturation. This study aims to investigate the protein digestion pattern and the cellular bioactivity of bovine milk OPN digesta in vitro. Methods and results A modified INFOGEST static in vitro infant digestion protocol and a Caco‐2/HT‐29 co‐culture cell model are employed to evaluate the digestion properties and the anti‐inflammatory effects of OPN. OPN is resistant to gastric hydrolysis but degraded into large peptides during intestinal digestion. Its 10 kDa digesta permeate with predicted extensive bioactivities protects the co‐culture cell model from the inflammation‐induced dysfunction by dose‐dependently recovering the expression of occludin, claudin‐3, and ZO‐1. Low dosage of OPN significantly decreases the production of IL‐8 and IL‐6, and downregulates the mRNA and protein expression of MyD88, NF‐κB p65, and IκB‐α, whereas a high dose evokes a mild pro‐inflammatory response. Interestingly, anti‐inflammatory effect of OPN digesta is stronger than lactoferrin and whey protein concentrate counterparts. Conclusion The findings demonstrate that the bioactive peptides released from in vitro infant gastrointestinal digestion of bovine milk OPN alleviates intestinal epithelial cell inflammation by inhibiting NF‐κB pathway activation and potentiates the barrier function of the intestinal epithelium.