Anti-adhesion Property of the Potential Probiotic Strain Lactobacillus fermentum 8711 Against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Anti-adhesion Property of the Potential Probiotic Strain Lactobacillus fermentum 8711 Against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Frontiers in Microbiology, March 2018

29568290

Sathyanarayanan Jayashree, Raman Karthikeyan, Sampath Nithyalakshmi, Jothi Ranjani, Paramasamy Gunasekaran, Jeyaprakash Rajendhran

Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) is a multidrug-resistant pathogen and one of the leading causes of nosocomial infection worldwide. Probiotic bacteria play a significant role in preventive or therapeutic interventions of gastrointestinal infections in human as well as animals. In this study, we have investigated the adhesion property of the probiotic strainLactobacillus fermentumMTCC 8711 and its ability to prevent the adhesion of MRSA to human colon adenocarcinoma cells, Caco-2. We have shown thatL. fermentumcould efficiently adhere to the Caco-2 cells. Also, we have shown thatL. fermentumsignificantly reduced MRSA adhesion to Caco-2 cells. Three types of experiments were performed to assess the anti-adhesion property ofL. fermentumagainst MRSA. Inhibition (Caco-2 cells were pre-treated withL. fermentum, and subsequently MRSA was added), competition (bothL. fermentumand MRSA were added to Caco-2 cells simultaneously), and displacement or exclusion (Caco-2 cells were pre-treated with MRSA, and subsequentlyL. fermentumwas added). In all three experiments, adhesion of MRSA was significantly reduced. Interestingly,L. fermentumcould efficiently displace the adhered MRSA, and hence this probiotic can be used for therapeutic applications also. In cytotoxicity assay, we found thatL. fermentum per sewas not cytotoxic, and also significantly reduced the MRSA-induced cytotoxicity. The protective effect occurred without affecting Caco-2 cell morphology and viability.