Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities of Weissella cibaria against Pathogens of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

• Published in: Microorganisms (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 6; p. 1181
• Main Authors: Yeu, Ji-Eun, Lee, Hyeon-Gyu, Park, Geun-Yeong, Lee, Jisun, Kang, Mi-Sun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 30.05.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: antibiofilm; Antibiotics; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; antimicrobial; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Biofilms; Confocal microscopy; Ear diseases; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Pathogens; Prevention; probiotic; Probiotics; Respiratory tract; Respiratory tract diseases; Respiratory tract infection; Scanning microscopy; Spectrophotometry; Streptococcus infections; Tonsillitis; upper respiratory tract; Viral infections; Weissella cibaria; United States > US
• ISSN: 2076-2607; 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9061181

Recently discovered preventive effects of probiotics on oral health have attracted interest to their use for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties of Weissella cibaria against Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, S. pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis, the major pathogens of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). The antimicrobial activities of W. cibaria were compared with those of other oral probiotics using a competitive inhibition assay and the determination of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). In addition, a time-kill assay, spectrophotometry, and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to confirm the antimicrobial and antibiofilm abilities of W. cibaria CMU (oraCMU) and CMS1 (oraCMS1). Both live cells and cell-free supernatants of all tested probiotics, except Streptococcus salivarius, showed excellent antimicrobial activities. All target pathogens were killed within 4 to 24 h at twice the MIC of oraCMU and oraCMS1, which showed the highest antimicrobial activities against M. catarrhalis. The antimicrobial substances that affected different target pathogens were different. Both oraCMU and oraCMS1 showed excellent abilities to inhibit biofilm formation and remove preformed biofilms. Our results suggest that the W. cibaria probiotics offer new possibilities for the prevention and treatment of bacterial URTIs.