Due to their increasing popularity among consumers the number of probiotic dairy products on thelocal market has increased tremendously during the last few years. Probiotic bacteria used in commercialproducts today are mainly members of the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Twenty lactic acidbacterial strains were isolated and identified by phenotypic method from samples of probiotic dairy productsas fermented milk drinks, yoghurts and infant milk powder. These strains were grouped at species level asL. casi, L. acidophilus, L. plantarum and Bifidobacteria species. These strains were further tested for thepresence of functional traits useful for probiotic applications, such as resistance to acidic condition at pH 2,bile salt hydrolytic activity and ability for adhesion to Caco-2 cells as well as ability to inhibit the adhesion ofE. coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella flexneri to caco-2 cells. Our obtained results showed that mostof tested strains exhibited characteristics suggesting that they would survive in the gastrointestinal tract andalso had the capability for adhesion to caco-2 cells. Greater variability was observed for the other traitsanalyzed. These data suggest that these probiotic strains had characteristic and differential functions traits.Therefore, results from our present study are expected to encourage people to consume more probiotic dairyproducts, as it was revealed that these products contain some probiotic lactic acid bacteria which play a majorrole for the beneficial health effects of consumers.
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