Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What is Lactic acid bacteria as probiotics?

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) comprise a clade of Gram-positive, low-GC, acid-tolerant, generally non-sporulating, non-respiring rod or cocci that are associated by their common metabolic and physiological characteristics. These bacteria, usually found in decomposing plants and lactic products, produce lactic acid as the major metabolic end-product of carbohydrate fermentation. This trait has, throughout history, linked LAB with food fermentations, as acidification inhibits the growth of spoilage agents. Proteinaceous bacteriocins are produced by several LAB strains and provide an additional hurdle for spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms.
Probiotics
Lactic acid bacteria as probiotics are products aimed at delivering living, potentially beneficial, bacterial cells to the gut ecosystem of humans and other animals, whereas prebiotics are indigestible carbohydrates delivered in food to the large bowel to provide fermentable substrates for selected bacteria. Strains of LAB are the most common microbes employed as probiotics. Two principal kinds of probiotic bacteria, members of the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, have been studied in detail.
Most probiotic strains belong to the genus Lactobacillus. Probiotics have been evaluated in research studies in animals and humans with respect to antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, travellers' diarrhoea, pediatric diarrhoea, inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. In the future, probiotics possibly will be used for different gastrointestinal diseases, vaginosis, or as delivery systems for vaccines, immunoglobulins, and other therapies.
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