Assessment of Resistance and Bioremediation Ability of Strains to Lead and Cadmium.

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) are heavy metals, important environmental pollutants, and potent toxicants to organism. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been reported to remove Cd and Pb from solutions and therefore represent a useful tool for decontamination of food and beverages from heavy metals. Heavy metal ion binding by LAB was reported as metabolism-independent surface process.

Towards effective and stable probiotics.

Background: Probiotics are live microorganisms, generally either lactobacilli or bifidobacteria, which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit to the host [1]. Due to the growing evidence of health benefits associated with their use, probiotics are of increasing interest and represent now a significant growth area in the functional foods industry [2]. However, to be effective, orally administered probiotics should survive preparation of dosage forms and passage through acidic environment of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT).

[Estimation of Probiotic Lactobacilli Drug Resistance].

An actual problem of analysis of probiotic lactobacilli resistance to antibiotics and other drugs used in the treatment of gastro-intestinal disturbances has been for the first time solved. The levels of resistance of 19 strains of Lactobacillus (14 strains of L. fermentum, 4 strains of L.