Background – Adhesion and colonization of the mucosal surfaces by probiotics are possible protective mechanisms against pathogens through competition for binding sites and nutrients (1) or immune modulation (2).
Objectives – The objective was to test the abilities to inhibit, to displace and to compete with pathogens in order to screen the most effective adhesive probiotic combination, and to develop methods for new probiotic characterization.
(2)
Design – A human intestinal mucus model was used to assess probiotics strains and their combinations. The
strains were selected on the basis of their use as a commercial probiotic strains and they have each demonstrated to have beneficial in vivo health effects.
Outcomes – Probiotic strains showed different abilities against pathogen adhesion. These properties were strain- and combination-specific indicating the need of a case-by-case characterization. All combination were able to reduce (p<0.05) the pathogen adhesion and in some cases over 40-50% of inhibition was demonstrated, but not all strains alone were able to inhibit pathogen adhesion. Thus, the selection of probiotic strains or combination to inhibit or displace a specific pathogen could be the basis for both product development and future clinical intervention studies on prevention or treatment of dysfunctions.
Conclusion – Our results suggest that different probiotic combinations can be formulated to enhance the inhibition and the displacement percentages to pathogen adhesion to intestinal mucus. New combinations could be useful in inhibition and displacement of pathogen adhesion than a single strain. Further studies are needed to characterize each combination and to understand their role in inhibition mechanisms.
References