Probiotic Bacteria Used in Food: A Novel Class of Antibiofilm Agent

Probiotics are live microorganisms or bacterial cultures that can have beneficial effects for the host when ingested. Probiotics must survive stressful conditions of the gastrointestinal tract by tolerating acid, bile, and gastric enzymes and must adhere to intestinal epithelial cells to colonize the gut. Moreover, probiotics should have antimicrobial effects against pathogenic microorganisms and desirable antibiotic susceptibility patterns. Many gastrointestinal diseases, such as diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic inflammatory bowel disease are caused by intestinal microflora imbalance, which is an important factor in bacterial translocation and infection. The current treatment of intestinal microbiota imbalance is using antibiotics; however, misuse or overuse of antibiotics contributes to resistance, which is one of the major public health problems worldwide. Another concern is the decreasing efficacy of antibiotics in treating human and animal infections because of the biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria. Bacterial cells in biofilms are highly protected, less subjected to mutation, represent low metabolic activity, and become resistant to antibiotics. Therefore, the probiotic strains having both antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties may be expected to be therapeutically more effective. The antimicrobial probiotics having biofilm-dispersive properties can yield better clinical benefits as a therapeutic agent. Keeping in focus the promise shown by probiotics, current review is aimed to highlight the antibiofilm potential of probiotic microorganisms against drug-resistant pathogens.