Functional and safety characterization of beneficial vaginal lactic acid bacteria for the design of vaginal hygiene products.

Aims: The aim was to complement the evaluation of functional and safety properties of beneficial vaginal lactic acid bacteria to select the most adequate strains as potential probiotics for their inclusion in a vaginal probiotic formula.

Methods And Results: Twenty-four beneficial vaginal lactic acid bacteria strains previously isolated from healthy women were characterized by applying phenotypical and genetic techniques. The biofilm formation and exopolysaccharide production by the different strains showed a strong influence of the growth medium on the expression of these properties.

Screening of autochthonous vaginal beneficial lactobacilli strains by their growth at high temperatures for technological applications.

The pharmaceutical industry shows an emerging interest in formulas that contain live and beneficial microorganisms, also known as probiotics or pharmabiotics, which in many cases, are host-specific. The resistance to higher temperature is an essential feature of these microorganisms when working on the design of products for vaginal formula. In order to obtain a high number of viable cells and a prolonged shelf life in the designed product, it is required to apply technological procedures using high temperatures or abrupt changes of them, which result in conditions that are different from the optimal growth temperature and can affect the metabolic capabilities of the bacteria when administered to the host in order to reestablish the ecological mucosa.

Survival of Beneficial Vaginal Lactobacilli (BVL) to Different Gastrointestinal Tract Conditions.

Background: Lactobacilli are the dominant bacteria in the healthy vaginal tract, preventing the income of pathogenic microorganisms, either sexually or not transmitted. Probiotics are used to restore the vaginal microbiome by local administration. However, the ascendant colonization is proposed as a way to restore the vaginal balance, and to exert some complementary effects on the host, situation that requires that probiotic strains resist the gastrointestinal tract passage.

Anti-Candida activity of beneficial vaginal lactobacilli in in vitro assays and in a murine experimental model.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most frequent infections affecting women worldwide. Healthy vaginal microbiota is dominated by lactobacilli, which form a strong defense line against pathogens. In this work, in vitro antimicrobial properties of thirty vaginal Lactobacillus strains were evaluated against eleven Candida vaginal clinical isolates, employing three different methods.

Contraception: Influence on Vaginal Microbiota and Identification of Vaginal Lactobacilli Using MALDI-TOF MS and 16S rDNA Sequencing.

Background: The vaginal microbiome is influenced by a wide variety of factors, including contraceptive methods.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of contraceptive methods on vaginal microbiota and to compare MALDI-TOF MS and 16S rDNA sequencing for lactobacilli identification.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and one (101) women consulting for birth control were included in a prospective study.