Defense factors of vaginal lactobacilli

Identification and in vitro production of Lactobacillus antagonists from women with or without bacterial vaginosis

“…The results of the present study suggest that the Lactobacillus species is also an important factor since women with vaginal pH values lower than 4.5 are preferentially associated with L. crispatus. Aroutcheva et al (1) described very different in vitro growth and acid production rates depending on the species of Lactobacillus isolated from the human vagina and these characteristics could explain the specific presence of L. crispatus in healthy women. Additionally, the activity of H 2 O 2 is influenced by the hydrogen ion concentration in the environment.…”

Growth and lactic acid production by vaginal Lactobacillus acidophilus CRL 1259, and inhibition of uropathogenic Escherichia coli

“…Production of antagonistic substances (organic acids, hydrogen peroxide or bacteriocins) against pathogens is a technique that is widely used (McLean & Rosenstein, 2000;Aroutcheva et al, 2001;Strus et al, 2002). Among 134 vaginal Lactobacillus strains isolated previously in our laboratory (Ocaña et al, 1999a), only six strains were able to inhibit all the pathogens under study, except for C. albicans.…”

Lactobacillus rhamnosus L60, a potential probiotic isolated from the human vagina

“…Numbers of adhering lactobacilli in the present study were comparable. Such adherence may promote colonization of the vaginal epithelium through formation of a bacterial film that tends to exclude pathogens from the mucosa (Aroutcheva et al, 2001;Reid, 1999).…”