Antibacterial and Antibiofilm Effects of Lactobacilli Strains against Clinical Isolates of <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> under Conditions Relevant to Cystic Fibrosis
Giovanna Batoni,
Elisa Catelli,
Esingül Kaya,
Arianna Pompilio,
Marta Bianchi,
Emilia Ghelardi,
Giovanni Di Bonaventura,
Semih Esin,
Giuseppantonio Maisetta
Affiliations
Giovanna Batoni
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Elisa Catelli
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Esingül Kaya
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Arianna Pompilio
Department of Medical, Oral, and Biotechnological Sciences, G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Marta Bianchi
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Emilia Ghelardi
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Giovanni Di Bonaventura
Department of Medical, Oral, and Biotechnological Sciences, G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Semih Esin
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Giuseppantonio Maisetta
Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 37, 56123 Pisa, Italy
Therapy of lung infections sustained by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is challenging due to the presence of a sticky mucus in the airways and the ability of the bacterium to form biofilm, which exhibits increased antibiotic tolerance. A lung-directed bacteriotherapy through the airway administration of probiotics could represent an alternative approach to probiotic diet supplementation to improve the benefits and clinical outcomes of this kind of intervention in CF patients. This study aims to evaluate the ability of probiotic strains to grow in artificial sputum medium (ASM), mimicking the CF lung microenvironment, and to affect the planktonic and biofilm growth of CF clinical strains of P. aeruginosa in the same conditions. The results demonstrate that Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP) can grow in ASM. LP inhibited the planktonic growth of P. aeruginosa, while both lactobacilli reduced the pre-formed biofilm of P. aeruginosa. Interestingly, LP was demonstrated to reduce the amount of polysaccharides in the extracellular matrix of P. aeruginosa biofilms and to potentiate the antibiofilm effects of tobramycin. Overall, the results indicated that LP is a promising candidate as an adjuvant in the antimicrobial therapy of P. aeruginosa infections in CF patients.