TY - JOUR
T1 - Galleria mellonella as an in vivo model for assessing the protective activity of probiotics against gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens
AU - Scalfaro, Concetta
AU - Iacobino, Angelo
AU - Nardis, Chiara
AU - Franciosa, Giovanna
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - The antagonistic activity against gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens is an important property of probiotic bacteria and a desirable feature for pre-selection of novel strains with probiotic potential. Pre-screening of candidate probiotics for antibacterial activity should be based on in vitro and in vivo tests. This study investigated whether the protective activity of probiotic bacteria against gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens can be evaluated using Galleria mellonella larvae as an in vivo model. Larvae were pre-inoculated with either of two widely used probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or Clostridium butyricum Miyairi 588, and then challenged with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli or Listeria monocytogenes. Survival rates increased in the probiotic pretreated larvae compared with control larvae inoculated with pathogens only. The hemocyte density increased as well in the probiotic pretreated larvae, indicating that both probiotics induce an immune response in the larvae. The antibacterial activity of probiotics against the pathogens was also assayed by an in vitro agar spot test: results were partially consistent with those obtained by the G. mellonella protection assay. The results obtained, as a whole, suggest that G. mellonella larvae are a potentially useful in vivo model that can complement in vitro assays for pre-screening of candidate probiotics.
AB - The antagonistic activity against gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens is an important property of probiotic bacteria and a desirable feature for pre-selection of novel strains with probiotic potential. Pre-screening of candidate probiotics for antibacterial activity should be based on in vitro and in vivo tests. This study investigated whether the protective activity of probiotic bacteria against gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens can be evaluated using Galleria mellonella larvae as an in vivo model. Larvae were pre-inoculated with either of two widely used probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or Clostridium butyricum Miyairi 588, and then challenged with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli or Listeria monocytogenes. Survival rates increased in the probiotic pretreated larvae compared with control larvae inoculated with pathogens only. The hemocyte density increased as well in the probiotic pretreated larvae, indicating that both probiotics induce an immune response in the larvae. The antibacterial activity of probiotics against the pathogens was also assayed by an in vitro agar spot test: results were partially consistent with those obtained by the G. mellonella protection assay. The results obtained, as a whole, suggest that G. mellonella larvae are a potentially useful in vivo model that can complement in vitro assays for pre-screening of candidate probiotics.
KW - Galleria mellonella
KW - gastrointestinal pathogens
KW - in vitro antibacterial activity
KW - in vivo protection assay
KW - probiotic bacteria
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021848694&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85021848694&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/femsle/fnx064
DO - 10.1093/femsle/fnx064
M3 - Article
C2 - 28369512
AN - SCOPUS:85021848694
VL - 364
JO - FEMS Microbiology Letters
JF - FEMS Microbiology Letters
SN - 0378-1097
IS - 7
ER -