Development of the child’s immune system tends to be directed toward a T-helper 2 (Th2) phenotype in infants, whereas postnatal maturation is associated with gradual inhibition of Th2 and increasing Th1 affinity [1]. Thus, immature Th2-dominant neonatal responses must undergo environment-driven maturation via microbial contact in the early postnatal period to prevent development of childhood al...

Bifidobacteria isolated from infant gut and breast milk exhibited different abilities to grow under microaerobic conditions, alone or in the presence of added catalase. In the present study, we demonstrated that some Bifidobacterium strains unable to grow under microaerobic conditions were cross-protected on solid media from oxidative stress by adjacent colonies of gut catalase-positive Staphyl...

Cell-free extracts of 17 strains of Bifidobacterium bifidum (Lactobacillus bifidus) were examined for the presence of aldolase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase. All strains turned out to lack aldolase, an enzyme unique to glycolysis, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, characteristic of the hexosemonophosphate pathway. In all strains, fructose-6-ph...

Bovine lactoferrin (bLf) is a multifunctional iron-binding glycoprotein secreted mainly in milk and other secretory fluids. Bovine lactoferrin is reported to promote the growth of bifidobacteria and binding of bLf to bifidobacteria cell is thought to be involved. After separation of bLf half molecule and extraction of surface proteins from bifidobacteria, binding profiles were observed by immun...

Members of the genus Bifidobacterium , which majority have been isolated as gut commensals, are Gram-positive, non-motile, saccharolytic, non-sporulating, anaerobic bacteria. Many bifidobacterial strains considered probiotic and therefore thought to bestow health benefits upon their host. Bifidobacteria highly abundant among microbiota healthy, full term, breast-fed infants, yet relative averag...

Selective culture media and phenotypic tests enable lactobacilli to be differentiated from morphologically similar bacteria. The accurate identification of Lactobacillus species can be accomplished by reference to 16S rRNA gene sequences. Species-specific, PCR primers that target the 16S-23S rRNA spacer region are available for a limited number of Lactobacillus species. Molecular methods for th...