Novel perspectives in probiotic treatment: the efficacy and unveiled mechanisms of the physiological functions

Abstract

Probiotics are defined as "live microorganisms which confer a health benefit on the host" when administered in adequate amounts, and have potential effects for maintaining intestinal development, nutrition, and treating intestinal inflammations, functional disorders, and other extra-intestinal diseases. Although the benefits of probiotics for human health were first noted over 100 years ago, the analysis of probiotic functions began in earnest only 20 years ago. Probiotics, such as some strains of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis, inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, induce competitive effects for the adherent of pathogenic bacteria and their toxins to intestinal epithelia, induce cytoprotective heat shock proteins, enhance the intestinal barrier function, and modulate the host immune responses. The crosstalk between the host and the probiotics appears to be mediated by bacteria-derived effectors, which can be sensed with multiple systems, including the Toll-like receptors and cell membrane transporters. Future analyses will identify more probiotic-derived effectors, the recognition mechanisms of these effectors, and the subsequent changes of the intestinal epithelia and immune cells for each probiotic treatment. For clinical use, a procedure that objectively evaluates the ability of each probiotic effect will help establish a standard for choosing the most valuable strain and its proper dose for each individual patient.

Probiotic treatments for induction and maintenance of remission in inflammatory bowel diseases: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Based on the results of etiological and pre-clinical studies of the effects of probiotics, many clinical trials have been conducted, and have suggested that probiotics are potentially useful in the treatment in IBD patients. However, the data from these studies were based on various subjects using different genera, species, strains and doses of probiotics [41,42]. The sample sizes of these studies have been relatively small, so there has been no definitive evidence.…”

A Review on Some Chemical Engineering and Microbiological Aspects Considered in the Production of Highly Concentrated Probiotic Cultures and Bacteriocins by Lactococci and Lactobacilli

“…Probiotics are viable microorganisms that, once ingested in sufficient amounts, exert health-promoting effects in humans and animals by assisting in the establishment of an intestinal population which is beneficial to the host entity and antagonistic to harmful bacteria [1][2][3][4].…”

“…Thus, since the extensive use of antimicrobials (e.g., antibiotics and silver sulphadiazine) could produce adverse reactions and side effects [7,8], the interest has been focussed on the use of probiotics for preventing or treating different human diseases [1,4] and for improving the performance parameters of farm animals. These probiotics can play an important role in immunological, digestive, and respiratory functions in humans [9] and can improve the body weight gain and feed conversion in farm animals [2,3].…”

“…The most commonly used probiotics are some strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the bacterium Bacillus subtilis [3,4]. These strains have been used in combination or not with other bacteria to formulate different nutritional supplements, which are commercialized by some companies and suppliers (Table 1).…”

Selenium-Enriched Probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii CCT 4308 Biomass Production Using Low-Cost Sugarcane Molasses Medium

“…Probiotics are supplements based on living microorganisms that aim health benefits for human and animals when consumed in adequate amounts [1,2]. Scientific researches show that these nutritional supplements demonstrate multiple properties, which are helpful to natural intestinal microbiota equilibrium [1], present anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties [3] and improvement of immunity [4]. Most probiotic microorganism sources are bacteria, especially lactic acid bacteria [2], although some yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces boulardii have been increasingly applied to this purpose [5,6].…”