Project title
Inovative, multidisciplinary research
to investigate the probiotic effects of new lactic acid bacteria strains and
consortia
Acronim: PROLAB
Contract: 77/2012
Programme: PARTNERSHIPS IN PRIORITY DOMAINS
Financing
institution: National Council of Scientific Research in Higher Education
Project
code: PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3.1-0969
Running
time: 36 months
Project
budget: 2000000 lei
Abstract
The
emergence of bacterial resistance and multiresistance to antibiotics represent
a major public health problem in Romania and also in the entire world. In
Romania, there is an increasing incidence of infections with bacterial strains
highly resistant to antibiotics, whose prognosis is often worsened by bacterial
biofilms formed on tissues and biomaterials used in medicine. In our country,
the implementation of some alternative strategies for the prevention and
treatment of infections with multiresistant and biofilm forming bacteria is
less studied, despite their great application potential in biomedicine and
their utility in the recovery of the normal microbiota eubiosis state, after antibiotics
treatment negative impact on bacterial communities. One of the most viable
alternatives is the administration of probiotics products which by
administration in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on human organism.
For an optimal use of the probiotic microorganisms, the mechanisms by which
they work should be better understood.
The selection of an appropriate probiotic strain for its inclusion in a
probiotic product should be made on the basis of its capacity to induce an
improved host response without modification of the intestinal homeostasis.
The main
goal of this project imply complex studies of probiotic strains (lactic acid
bacteria newly isolated) and multispecific consortium in order to improve the
experimental protocol for the optimal selection of human use probiotics, based
on their anti-infective and immunomodulatory activities.
Work plan
|
Phase title
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Involved partners
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Completion
date
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Expected
results
|
|
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Phase I - 2012
Complex microbial characterization
of newly isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) stains
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UB, IBB
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15.12. 2012
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Experimental
work will allow us to obtain a
stock of lactic acid bacteria characterized in terms microbiologic traits
|
|
|
Phase
II - 2013
Characterization of probiotic
activity of LAB strains using conventional and newly implemented methodology
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UB, IBB, INCDSB, USAMVB
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15.12. 2013
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The works included in the second
phase will make it possible us to characterize these LAB strains with
probiotic potential.
|
|
|
Phase
III – 2014
Investigation of the crosstalk
between probiotics consortium, epithelial and immune cells
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UB, IBB, INCDSB, USAMVB
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15.12. 2014
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Research
activities from this phase will allow us to obtain a LAB strains consortium
with probiotic effect.
|
|
|
Phase
IV – 2015
Assessment of functionality of
probiotic LAB strain consortium
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UB, IBB
|
12.07.2015
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To obtain a complex probiotic product characterized in
terms of functionality and stability.
|
Project partners:
Coordinator: University of Bucharest, Faculty of
Biology, Department of Genetics
Project director: Lecturer Dr. Diana
Pelinescu (maiden name Smarandache)
Partner 1: Institute of Biology Bucharest
Team leader: CSI Dr. Medana Zamfir
Partner 2: National Institute of Development –
Research in Biological Science Bucharest
Team leader: CSII Dr. Gabriela Paun
Partner 3: University of Agronomic Science and
Veterinary Medicine Bucharest
Team leader: Lecturer Dr. Emanuel
Vamanu
Results
Discovery of
lactic acid bacteria strain probiotic effect determined during last years the
need for understanding the mechanisms involved in the beneficial impact on
human health especially because these effects are strain specific. In order to
achieve the project’s objectives, the first phase aimed to obtain a
mini-collection of 224 new lactic acid bacteria strains isolated from specific
ecological niches, their characterization and preliminary taxonomic
classification.
The sources
of isolation were varied and covered a broad ecological spectrum, represented
by: newborn feces, milk, fermented food and fermented vegetable. In order to
characterize and to identify, newly isolated and purified lactic acid bacteria
strains were analyzed in terms of morphology (macroscopic or microscopic
appearance), physiology (growth at various temperatures and halotolerance) and
biochemical traits (catalase production, organic acids production, capacity to
metabolize different carbon sources). Subsequently, to confirm the taxonomic
status, strains were analyzed using standardized API kits and BIOLOG system.
The results
have shown variations in morpho-physiological and biochemical traits of the
isolates according to isolation niche. In terms of cell morphology, strains
isolated from fermented products are generally cocci and strains isolated from
newborn feces presented mainly the bacillary and coccobacillary forms. Strains
from human gastrointestinaly tractus have lower capacity for
biosynthesis of organic acids and low resistance to temperature changes
compared with strains isolated from fermented products. After all
microbiological and biochemical determinations carried out, newly isolated
lactic acid bacteria strains were identified as belonging to the genera Lactobacillus,
Lactococcus, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus and Pediococcus.
All isolated
and characterized strains were cryopreserved and stored in the collection of
the Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology.
Scientific
publications:
- Grosu – Tudor S.S., Zamfir M., 2012, “Functional properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Romanian fermented vegetables”, II International Conference on Antimicrobial Research, Lisabona, Portugalia, 21-23 noiembrie 2012, p. 563.
- Grosu-Tudor S.S., Zamfir M., Van der Meulen R., De Vuyst L., 2013, Isolation of novel homopolysaccharide-producing lactic acid bacteria from Romanian raw milk and fermented dairy products, European Food Research and Technology DOI: 10.1007/s00217-013-2038-2 (in press)
- Vamanu E., 2013, Testing in vitro viability of thermophilic probiotic strain in simulated gastrointestinal conditions, Annals of Microbiology – Springer (under review)
- Emanuel Vamanu, Diana-Roxana Pelinescu, Ionela Avram, Sultana Nita, 2013, An in-vitro evaluation of antioxidant and colonic microbial profile levels following mushroom consumption, BioMed Research International (under review)
