Nisin is an effective inhibitor of Clostridium difficile vegetative cells and spore germination.

Nisin is an effective inhibitor of Clostridium difficile vegetative cells and spore germination.
J Med Microbiol. 2015 Nov 9;
Authors: Le Lay C, Dridi L, Bergeron MG, Ouellette M, Fliss I
Abstract
Clostridium difficile is the most frequently identified enteric pathogen in patients with nosocomial antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and pseudomembranous colitis. Several clinically isolated C. difficile strains are resistant to antibiotics other than metronidazole and vancomycin. Recently, bacteriocins of lactic acid bacteria have been proposed as an alternative or complementary treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of nisin, a bacteriocin produced by several strains of Lactococcus lactis, against clinical isolates of C. difficile. Nisin Z obtained from culture of L. lactis subsp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis was tested along with commercial nisin A. The effect of nisin A on C. difficile spores was also examined. Nisin A and Z both inhibited the growth of all C. difficile isolates and the MIC was estimated at 6.2 µg.mL-1 for nisin Z and 0.8 µg.mL-1 for nisin A. Besides, C. difficile spores were also susceptible to nisin A (25.6 µg.mL-1) which dropped by 40-50 % spore viability. These results suggest that nisin and hence nisin-producing Lactococcus strains could be used to treat C. difficile-associated diarrhoea.
PMID: 26555543 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Journal of Medical Microbiology - November 9, 2015 Category: Microbiology Authors: Le Lay C, Dridi L, Bergeron MG, Ouellette M, Fliss I Tags: J Med Microbiol Source Type: research