Several probiotic-marketed formulations available for the consumers contain live lactic acid bacteria and/or bifidobacteria. The multispecies product commercialized as VSL#3 has been used for treating various gastro-intestinal disorders. However, like many other products, the bacterial strains present in VSL#3 have only been characterized to a limited extent and their efficacy as well as their ...

Probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. The main probiotic bacteria are strains belonging to the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, although other representatives, such as Bacillus or Escherichia coli strains, have also been used. Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are two common inhabitants of the human intestina...

The susceptibility pattern of 459 strains of bifidobacteria, representing 15 species, to 16 antimicrobial agents was determined by the broth dilution method. The majority of the strains derived from human faeces. Penicillin G, erythromycin, clindamycin, vancomycin and bacitracin were the most active compounds; they inhibited 90% of the strains at less than 1.6 micrograms/ml. All strains were su...

Fermented food provides plenty of vital nutrients and bioactive components that affect a number of functions of human body in a positive way. Fermented dairy and food products can be made more functional by incorporating probiotic bacteria such as strains belonging to genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. A few strains of such food grade bacteria are capable of synthesizing essential biomol...

Deoxyribonucleic acids of 45 strains of Lactobacillus and 5 strains of Bifidobacterium which had been analyzed for base composition by chromatographic means were examined at equilibrium in a CsCl density gradient. Regression analysis showed that there have been systematic errors involved in the estimation of guanine plus cytosine (GC) content by the chemical method, and that the relation betwee...

BACKGROUND To investigate the efficacy of different probiotic strains, their combinations and forms (alive or lyophilized) in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevention. METHODS In this study, 70 rats have been used divided into 7 groups of 10 animals in each: I - intact rats, II-VII - rats with monosodium glutamate (MSG)-induced NAFLD. Rats with NAFLD were untreated (group II, MSG-o...

Intestinal colonization of bifidobacteria is important for the health of infants. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) have been identified as growth factors for bifidobacteria. Recently, a bifidobacterial enzymatic system to metabolize HMO was identified. 1,3-β-Galactosyl-N-acetylhexosamine phosphorylase (GLNBP, EC 2.4.1.211), which catalyzes the reversible phosphorolysis of galacto-N-biose (GNB)...

Bio-guided screening is an important method to identify bioactive compounds from fungi. In this study we applied a fast digital time-lapse microscopic method for assessment of the antibacterial properties of secondary metabolites from the fungal genus Fusarium. Here antibacterial effects could be detected for antibiotic Y, aurofusarin, beauvericin, enniatins and fusaric acid after six hours of ...

Aflatoxins are highly toxic, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic compounds produced by some species of Aspergillus, especially A. flavus and A. parasiticus. This study was conducted investigate the effect of some strains of probiotic bacteria against toxicity induced by contaminated diet with aflatoxins in male rats. Animals were divided into 6 equal groups each group contains 7 rats. The f...