IDENTIFICATION OF PROBIOTIC MICROORGANISMS WITH ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY

Abstract

The rapid growth of superbugs, bacteria that are resistant to multi-drugs, are one of the complex problems facing modern medicine. Various new antibiotics were made and tested, but the end result is almost the same: microorganisms end up developing resistance to those antibiotics. Scientists are proposing new alternative strategies to fight antibioticresistant strains. Each proposed approach has its negative and positive aspects. A probioticbased treatment is an alternative strategies. Some probiotics possess antimicrobial activity, and in combination with antibiotics, the “killing” effect can be enhanced. On the basis of this, an effective and competitive drug against persistent pathogenic microflora can be obtained. However, a problem to be overcome is the possible sensitivity of probiotics to antibiotics, since probiotics, as living organisms, are also susceptible to the antibiotic activity. To prevent this, this study proposes to encapsulate probiotics in polymers impermeable to antibiotics and administered together with antibiotics. This proposal aims to evaluate this possibility. I isolated several colonies from a commercial mix of probiotics (Jamieson, Canada) with antibacterial activity, sequencing of 16S rRNA identified then as Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Encapsulation of probiotics in alginate did not affect the antibacterial activity. Moreover, antibiotics were unable to penetrate through microcapsules, therefore not affecting the viability of the probiotics. Thus, encapsulated probiotics can potentially be used in conjunction with antibiotics as a treatment of pathogenic bacteria.