Dialogue of Probiotics with the Host

Dear Colleagues,

The canonical concepts behind the definition of probiotics have remained unaltered for almost 20 years, establishing that probiotics must be well-characterized living microorganisms with proven beneficial effects that are safe to use. Different terms with the “biotic” root are used, referring to their pharmacological role (i.e. pharmabiotics), their target (i.e. psycobiotics) and their joint effect/administration with prebiotics (i.e. symbiotics). There are newer and broader concepts that involve non-living components or their metabolic products (i.e. postbiotics, parabiotics). Besides the terminology, this is one of the most dynamic scientific fields in the area of health and nutrition, which is heavily supported by robust scientific evidence, and where the forefront of omics, bioinformatics and molecular biology techniques has been put to work. Microbiome research works are on their way to overcome classical concepts and they have revealed a number of new bacterial species significantly related to health benefits that are considered the last generation of probiotics.

This Special Issue will be dealing with research works on diverse aspects of the interaction between well-established or new—to be appointed—probiotics with the host; this will include well founded contributions, from preclinical research (in vitro or in vivo assays) to human or animal trials.

As Guest Editors of this Special Issue, we would like to invite you to submit research articles, review articles and short communications dealing with different aspects of the communication between probiotics and the host.

Prof. Gaspar Pérez-Martínez
Prof. Christine Bäuerl
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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