In vitro evaluation of probiotic properties of commercial strains Lactobacillus plantarum and Bifidobacterium animalissubsp. Lactis

Probiotics are recognized as live microorganisms that confer a health benefit to the host when administered in adequate amounts. The present study aimed to evaluate in vitro probiotic properties of two commercial probiotic strains, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 and Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 14917. Our results indicated that the selected strains showed high resistance to acid, bile salts, and lysozyme. In general, they showed good adaptation to simulated gastric and intestinal juices (more than 85% could survive) which guarantees their survival in the gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 showed the highest hydrophobicity (59.75%) and auto-aggregation (51.42%) but the lowest adhesion to the human intestinal HT-29 cell line (8.35%). Furthermore, they both had β-galactosidase activity and were resistant to penicillin, vancomycin, and tetracycline. Our results indicated that Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 14917 had better probiotic characteristics than Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12.