Effect of feeding micro-entrapped co-culture of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum on the immune response and protection of mice infected with Salmonella typhimurium

摘要

The present investigation evaluated the effectiveness of co-immobilized probiotic cultures in terms of survival, carrying out a challenge test and protection assay against the translocation of a specific pathogen, Salmonella typhimurium, using antibiotic-decontaminated mice models. The increase in the numbers of viable probiotic cultures in the intestinal tract, as achieved by feeding entrapped co-culture preparations, proved to be more effective at providing better protection to the host, as compared with the individual free cells. Our findings reinforced that administration of high numbers of probiotic cultures of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, achieved by co-immobilization, reduced the translocation of enteropathogens such as S. typhimurium toextra-intestinal organs and thereby reduced the infection to the host. It was observed during the challenge studies that the survival rate of mice pre-treated with co-immobilized cultures was found to be a hundred percent as compared with 33 percent forthe control group. A substantial increase in the circulating antibodies was observed by the 10th day of feeding in the groups of mice fed on co-immobilized culture preparations. Similarly, lysosomal enzyme activities in peritoneal macrophages from the groups of mice administered with co-immobilized culture were generally about 2.07 and 1.18 times higher than those of the control group for beta-glucuronidase and beta-galactosidase, respectively.