45 Klebsiella Paclitaxel oxytoca 22.15 Klebsiella pneumoniae 12.34 Enterococcus faecalis 6.20 Enterobacter aerogenes 2.70 Enterobacter cloacae 2.50 Antimicrobial activity of lactic acid selleck bacteria against coliforms One strain belonging to each species of isolated coliforms was selected in order to assess the antimicrobial activity of the 27 Lactobacillus strains described in Table 2. The coliform strains were referred to as E. coli CG 15b, K. pneumoniae CG 23a, K. oxytoca CG Z, E. aerogenes CG W,E. cloacae CG 6a

and E. faecalis CG J. The antagonistic activity was initially examined by using the agar plates method employing both the NCS and washed cells. None of the NCS from all the Lactobacillus strains was found to inhibit the growth of the coliform strains, whereas the washed cells of two strains, i.e. L. delbrueckii

subsp.delbrueckii DSM 20074 and L. plantarum MB 456, were found to possess strong inhibitory activity against all 6 coliforms as evidenced by the size of the inhibition halo determined on the coliform plates (Table 4). L. delbrueckii DSM 20074 exhibited a higher anti-bacterial activity against all the coliforms than the MB 456 strain. An example of the halo evidenced on the coliform plates is presented for L. delbrueckii DSM 20074 (Figure 1). Table 4 Antagonistic activity of L. delbrueckii DSM 20074 and L. Staurosporine price plantarum MB 456 cell suspensions (106 CFU/ml) against coliforms isolated from colicky infants Coliform strains

Average diameter of the inhibition halo in mm (average ± SD)   L. delbrueckii DSM 20074 L. plantarum MB 456 E. coli CG 15b 10.23 ± 1.29 8.33 ± 0.89 K. oxytoca GC Y 9.75 ± 1.06 7.75 ± 0.76 K. pneumoniae CG 23a 9.83 ± 1.04 9.83 ± 0.64 Urease E. faecalis GC W 10.16 ± 0.76 8.16 ± 0.56 E. aerogenes GC K 10.25 ± 0.65 7.25 ± 0.25 E. cloacae CG 6a 10.25 ± 0.35 7.05 ± 0.35 It has been expressed as average diameter of inhibition halos obtained on LB agar plates inoculated with each of the selected coliform strains Figure 1 Inhibitory activity of L. delbrueckii DSM 20074 against E. coli CG 15b. Upper paper disk was imbibed with 50 μl of L. delbrueckii washed cells, whereas bottom paper disk was imbibed with 50 μl of neutralized supernatant of the same strain The anti-microbial activity evaluation in liquid co-cultures was performed with the Lactobacillus strain showing the highest anti-microbial activity with the previous method, i.e. L. delbrueckii subsp.delbrueckii DSM 20074, and each of the strains referred to the six species of coliform found. Inhibitory activity was evidenced against all the six coliform strains, being higher with the E. coli CG 15b strain. Referring to the experiment with DSM 20074 and E. coli CG 15b strains, the co-culture at the beginning of the incubation time contained 5.43 ± 0.54 log10 CFU/ml of L.