Anna Phan, Kanchan Thapa, Muhammad Abrar Hashmi, Aditi Mohapatra, Gwendolyn Ho, Grisham Narayan Tholan, Debabrata Biswas
{"title":"Prophylactic efficacy of probiotics and their metabolites against Staphylococcus epidermidis.","authors":"Anna Phan, Kanchan Thapa, Muhammad Abrar Hashmi, Aditi Mohapatra, Gwendolyn Ho, Grisham Narayan Tholan, Debabrata Biswas","doi":"10.1186/s12866-025-04382-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Staphylococcus epidermidis is a prevalent common microorganism found on the skin of most mammals, including humans. However, S. epidermidis is also known as an opportunistic pathogen that can cause diseases if the skin microbiome becomes skewed to favor its overgrowth. This situation can be worsened if the causative strains are antibiotic-resistant. To explore potential alternatives to replace conventional antibiotics, we aim to use probiotics, specifically Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, in controlling the growth, colonization, and biofilm formation of a multidrug-resistant S. epidermidis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Multidrug-resistant S. epidermidis was co-cultured with either L. rhamnosus or L. plantarum, and antimicrobial activity was assessed by counting S. epidermidis colonies at various timepoints. Under co-culture conditions, growth of S. epidermidis was decreased over time in the presence of either probiotic, specifically, a significant reduction was observed after 48 hours (p=0.0062). Additionally, S. epidermidis was treated with cell-free culture supernatant (CFCS) collected from probiotics to investigate the mechanism of inhibition. CFCS from 72-hour Lactobacilli cultures significantly inhibited S. epidermidis growth within 4 hours (p<0.05), and no S. epidermidis was detected after 72 hours (p=0.0003) when treated with 50% CFCS. Both CFCSs also reduced biofilm formation and bacterial counts after 24 hours, with complete inhibition by 48 h. Gene expression analysis revealed that exposure to CFCS led to downregulation of S. epidermidis genes associated with metabolism and cell division (arcC, gts, mutS, mur1, and ftsZ). Fluorescence microscopy indicated compromised cell wall integrity, evidenced by reduced HADA fluorescence and increased propidium iodide staining.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>L. plantarum and L. rhamnosus possess strong antimicrobial activity against multidrug-resistantS. epidermidis, supporting their potential as alternative strategies to control S. epidermidis colonization.</p>","PeriodicalId":9233,"journal":{"name":"BMC Microbiology","volume":"25 1","pages":"621"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12492936/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Microbiology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-025-04382-w","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Staphylococcus epidermidis is a prevalent common microorganism found on the skin of most mammals, including humans. However, S. epidermidis is also known as an opportunistic pathogen that can cause diseases if the skin microbiome becomes skewed to favor its overgrowth. This situation can be worsened if the causative strains are antibiotic-resistant. To explore potential alternatives to replace conventional antibiotics, we aim to use probiotics, specifically Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, in controlling the growth, colonization, and biofilm formation of a multidrug-resistant S. epidermidis.
Results: Multidrug-resistant S. epidermidis was co-cultured with either L. rhamnosus or L. plantarum, and antimicrobial activity was assessed by counting S. epidermidis colonies at various timepoints. Under co-culture conditions, growth of S. epidermidis was decreased over time in the presence of either probiotic, specifically, a significant reduction was observed after 48 hours (p=0.0062). Additionally, S. epidermidis was treated with cell-free culture supernatant (CFCS) collected from probiotics to investigate the mechanism of inhibition. CFCS from 72-hour Lactobacilli cultures significantly inhibited S. epidermidis growth within 4 hours (p<0.05), and no S. epidermidis was detected after 72 hours (p=0.0003) when treated with 50% CFCS. Both CFCSs also reduced biofilm formation and bacterial counts after 24 hours, with complete inhibition by 48 h. Gene expression analysis revealed that exposure to CFCS led to downregulation of S. epidermidis genes associated with metabolism and cell division (arcC, gts, mutS, mur1, and ftsZ). Fluorescence microscopy indicated compromised cell wall integrity, evidenced by reduced HADA fluorescence and increased propidium iodide staining.
Conclusion: L. plantarum and L. rhamnosus possess strong antimicrobial activity against multidrug-resistantS. epidermidis, supporting their potential as alternative strategies to control S. epidermidis colonization.
期刊介绍:
BMC Microbiology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on analytical and functional studies of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, viruses and small parasites, as well as host and therapeutic responses to them and their interaction with the environment.