Use of a Water-Based Probiotic to Treat Common Gut Pathogens

Publication date: Available online 11 December 2018Source: International Journal of PharmaceuticsAuthor(s): Cornelius C. Dodoo, Paul Stapleton, Abdul W. Basit, Simon GaisfordAbstractThis work reports the anti-pathogenic effect of a commercially available water-based probiotic suspension, Symprove™, against three commonly encountered infectious organisms; Escherichia coli, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Shigella sonnei. An isothermal calorimetric assay was used to the monitor growth of the species individually and in binary combinations, while colony plate counting was used to enumerate viable cell numbers. It was observed that all pathogenic species were faster growing than the probiotic bacteria in Symprove™ after inoculation into growth medium yet in all instances bacterial enumeration at the end of the experiments revealed a significant reduction in the pathogen population compared with the controls. A control population between 108 – 109 CFU/ml was obtained for E. coli and S. sonnei whilst approximately 106 CFU/ml was obtained for MRSA. Upon co-incubation for 48 hours, no viable counts were obtained for E. coli; a 4-log reduction was obtained for S. sonnei whilst MRSA numbers were down to less than 10 cells/ml. The results show that Symprove™ has antipathogenic activity against E. coli, S. sonnei and MRSA.Graphical abstractCo-inoculation of MRSA with the probiotic suspension Symprove resulted in eradication of the pathogen after 48h
Source: International Journal of Pharmaceutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research