Search Results (3)

We investigated the effects of two dosing regimens of two multi-strain probiotic products on the gut microbiota of breastfed infants, including the transfer of the dosed strains and clinical outcomes. In forty-seven dyads, infants were either exposed through maternal intake (MS) of Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus LGG, and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis Bifin02 from gestational week thirty-three until four weeks after birth (n = 24) or dosed directly (IS) with the same strains except for LA-5 starting within 24 h after birth until day 28 (n = 23). Infant stool samples were collected on day 0, 14, 28, and 42 after birth. Gastrointestinal symptoms were assessed by parents using an electronic diary. Microbiota composition was determined using 16S rRNA sequencing, and strain recovery was analyzed by qPCR. Notably, 100% of the IS infants were colonized with Bifin02 after 14 days as opposed to only 25% of the MS infants. Mean stool frequency was significantly lower in IS infants compared to MS infants and IS infants had softer stools on day 14, 28, and 42. A significantly steeper slope of progression of inconsolable crying and fussing was observed in MS infants compared to IS infants. In conclusion, direct infant seeding induced a faster increase in fecal bifidobacteria abundancy and Bifin02 recovery compared to dosed through the maternal intake. Full article

Background: Probiotics may prevent the allergic response development due to their anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. The aim of this study is to determine if the prophylactic treatment with a mixture of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis BB12 and Enterococcus faecium L3 would reduce symptoms and need for drug use in children with allergic rhinitis (AR). Methods: The study included 250 children aged from 6 to 17 years, affected by AR. Patients were randomly assigned to the intervention group (150) or to the placebo group (100). Patients in the intervention group, in addition to conventional therapy (local corticosteroids and/or oral antihistamines), were treated in the 3 months preceding the onset of symptoms related to the presence of the allergen to which the children were most sensitized, with a daily oral administration of a probiotic mixture containing the Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis BB12 DSM 15954 and the Enterococcus faecium L3 LMG P-27496 strain. We used Nasal Symptoms Score (NSS) to evaluate AR severity before and after the treatment with probiotics or placebo. Results: the patients in the intervention group had a significant reduction in their NSS after probiotic treatment (p-value = 2.2 × 10⁻¹⁰. Moreover, for the same group of patients, we obtained a significant reduction in the intake of pharmacological therapy. In particular, we obtained a reduction in the use of oral antihistamines (p-value = 2.2 × 10⁻¹⁶), local corticosteroids (p-value = 2.2 × 10⁻¹³), and of both drugs (p-value 1.5 × 10⁻¹⁵). Conclusions: When administered as a prophylactic treatment, a mixture of BB12 and L3 statistically decreased signs and symptoms of AR and reduced significantly the need of conventional therapy. Full article

Escherichia coli is an important commensal of our gut, however, many pathogenic strains exist, causing various severe infections in the gut or beyond. Due to several antibiotic resistance patterns of E. coli, research of alternative treatments or adjuvant therapy is important. One of these is the use of probiotics as antagonistic agents against E. coli. Most published studies investigate only one strain of E. coli and single-strain probiotics. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the antagonistic activity of selected single-strain and multi-strain probiotic supplements against selected clinical E. coli pathotypes using the in vitro agar spot test and the co-culturing method. Molecular methods were used to determine the presence of the genus lactobacilli and bifidobacteria as well as certain selected strains in the probiotic supplements. The agar-spot test showed that the multi-strain probiotics were more effective than the single-strain probiotics. On the other hand, the co-culturing method showed the opposite result, indicating that results are importantly influenced by the chosen method. The most effective single-strain probiotics against E. coli strains were Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 and Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938. The most effective multi-strain probiotics contained lactobacilli, bifidobacteria and enterococci strains, thus proving that most effective probiotics against E. coli strains are the lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. The overall results from both in vitro tests reveal that all selected probiotics exhibited an antagonistic activity against all E. coli strains. From a public health perspective probiotics have thus proved to be successful in inhibiting the growth of E. coli and could therefore be used as adjuvant therapy or alternative therapy in E. coli infections. Full article