Protection mechanism of probiotic combination against human pathogens: In vitro adhesion to human intestinal mucus

In this study we evaluated the ability of commercial strains (L. rhamnosus GG, L. rhamnosus LC705, and P. freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS) in combination with B. breve 99 or B. lactis Bb12 to inhibit, displace and compete with model pathogens in order to test their influence on the adhesion of selected pathogens to immobilized human intestinal mucus. Our results demonstrate that specific probiotic combinations are able to enhance the inhibition percentages of pathogens adhesion to intestinal mucus when compared to individual strains. This suggests that combinations of probiotic strains are useful and more effective in inhibition of pathogen adhesion than individual strains. Such combinations should be assessed in clinical studies in subjects where the intestinal microbiota aberrancies have been identified.