Lactobacilli as Anti-biofilm Strategy in Oral Infectious Diseases: A Mini-Review

Abstract

The spread of biofilm-related diseases in developed countries has led to increased mortality rates and high health care costs. A biofilm is a community of microorganisms that is irreversibly attached to a surface, behaving very differently from planktonic cells and providing resistance to antimicrobials and immune response. Oral diseases are an excellent example of infection associated with the formation of highly pathogenic biofilms. It is generally accepted that, when the oral homeostasis is broken, the overgrowth of pathogens is facilitated. Among them, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans are the main etiological agents of periodontitis, while Streptococcus mutans is strongly associated with the onset of dental caries. Other microorganisms, such as the fungus Candida albicans, may also be present and contribute to the severity of infections. Since the common antibiotic therapies usually fail to completely eradicate biofilm-related oral diseases, alternative approaches are highly required. In this regard, the topical administration of probiotics has recently gained interest in treating oral diseases. Thus, the present mini-review focuses on the possibility of using Lactobacillus spp. as probiotics to counteract biofilm-mediated oral infections. Many evidence highlight that Lactobacillus living cells can impede the biofilm formation and eradicate mature biofilms of different oral pathogens, by acting through different mechanisms. Even more interestingly, lactobacilli derivatives, namely postbiotics (soluble secreted products) and paraprobiotics (cell structural components) are able to trigger anti-biofilm effects too, suggesting that they can represent a novel and safer alternative to the use of viable cells in the management of biofilm-related oral diseases.

Antibiofilm activity of ultra-small gold nanoclusters against Fusobacterium nucleatum in dental plaque biofilms

“…Lactobacillus species were widely studies for oral diseases treatments in clinical studies and animal experiments [ 61 ]. It have been identified that Lactobacillus can reduce the count of oral pathogenic bacteria and inhibit biofilm formation [ 5 , 62 ]. In another study, Naha et al, also evaluated the influence of dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (Dex-NZM) on oral microbiota, when they were used to control tooth decay related biofilm [ 39 ].…”

Membrane vesicles released by Lacticaseibacillus casei BL23 inhibit the biofilm formation of Salmonella Enteritidis

“…Several bacteria of the Lactobacillaceae family have been shown to exert antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities against a broad spectrum of pathogenic and commensal bacteria 31,32 . The molecular mechanisms involved in the antagonistic activities of lactobacilli seem to depend on the species and remain largely unknown.…”

“…The literature indicates that the biofilms of pathogens can be inhibited by live bacteria by competition, displacement or exclusion 31 . Moreover, cellular components and products secreted by lactobacilli have also been reported to exhibit strong antimicrobial and antibiofilm effects 32,58,59 . In this work, we showed that lipid components present in the high molecular weight fraction of LC-CFS displayed antibiofilm activities against S. Enteritidis.…”

“…To address the rise of resistance and the failure of conventional treatments to eliminate biofilms in healthcare and the food industry, new alternatives must be investigated. Probiotics have been found to be effective against biofilms of various Salmonella strains [25][26][27] as well as other pathogens [28][29][30][31][32] .…”

The Bacillary Postbiotics, Including 2-Undecanone, Suppress the Virulence of Pathogenic Microorganisms

“…Thus, L. plantarum has often been used as bio-control measures against foodborne pathogens [ 16 ]. In addition, cell-free supernatant of L. plantarum cultures has been shown to inhibit the growth of Listeria monocytogenes , Salmonella enteritidis , Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Staphylococcus aureus [ 17 , 18 ]. Secondary metabolites such as organic acids, bacteriocins, and other antimicrobial peptides secreted by L. plantarum in its culture filtrates may account for the observed antimicrobial effects [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”