CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Aims: The aim was to complement the evaluation of functional and safety propertiesof beneficial vaginal lactic acid bacteria to select the most adequate strains as potentialprobiotics for their inclusion in a vaginal probiotic formula.Methods and Results: Twenty-fourbeneficial vaginal lactic acid bacteria strainspreviously isolated from healthy women were characterized by applying phenotypicaland genetic techniques. The biofilm formation and exopolysaccharide productionby the different strains showed a strong influence of the growth medium on the expressionof these properties. The evaluated strains evidenced different antibiotic susceptibilitypatterns by phenotypic tests, while the resistance genes were not alwayscorrelated with the phenotypic profiles. None of the evaluated strains showed lecithinase,gelatinase, or β-hemolyticactivity. Based on the results obtained, Lactobacillusgasseri CRL 1320 and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus CRL 1332 were selected to advancein the design of the products.Conclusions: A wide variability in the properties expressed by beneficial vaginallactic acid bacteria strains were shown, evidencing a strain-specificand independentbehaviour of the species/metabolic group where classified. The selection criteria appliedprovided a valuable tool for the selection of the best vaginal lactobacilli strainsfor their inclusion in formulas for vaginal application.Significance and Impact of the Study: Since probiotics are an important toolfor improving human health, the designed formula are an excellent alternative toreconstitute the vaginal microbiota and prevent/treat urogenital tract infections inwomen. The results obtained contribute to deepen the characterization of homologousbeneficial vaginal lactic acid bacteria and advance in the design of vaginal probioticproducts.

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