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Lactobacillus crispatus YIT 12319 (LcY) was isolated from the oral cavity of a healthy subject as a new candidate probiotic with potential benefits for oral health. As a safety assessment of LcY, we performed an antibiotic susceptibility test and virulence-associated gene analysis using a draft genome sequence. Susceptibility to 15 antibiotics was analyzed according to the standard method of the International Dairy Federation/International Organization for Standardization, as recommended by the European Food Safety Authority. The results showed that the minimum inhibitory concentrations of LcY were not higher than those of other L. crispatus strains, which have not acquired resistance to any antibiotics, suggesting that LcY had no externally acquired transmissible antibiotic resistance genes. Analysis of virulence-associated genes using the draft genome of LcY found that there were fewer potential virulence-associated genes in LcY than in other probiotics. These findings suggest that LcY could be a candidate probiotic based on its safety profile., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: This work was funded by the Yakult Central Institute (http://institute.yakult.co.jp/). The funder provided support in the form of salaries for the authors (TT, KK, EI, MN, MI, KM, AK, and TO), but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. SI, YN, and NH received research funds from the Yakult Central Institute., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Unlabelled: Stress-induced abdominal dysfunction is an attractive target for probiotics. To investigate the effects of the probiotic Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota on abdominal dysfunction, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted with healthy medical students undertaking an authorized nationwide examination for academic advancement. For 8 weeks, until the day before the examination, 23 and 24 subjects consumed an L. casei strain Shirota-fermented milk and a placebo milk daily, respectively. In addition to assessments of abdominal symptoms, psychophysical state, and salivary stress markers, gene expression changes in peripheral blood leukocytes and composition of the gut microbiota were analyzed using DNA microarray analysis and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequence analysis, respectively, before and after the intervention. Stress-induced increases in a visual analog scale measuring feelings of stress, the total score of abdominal dysfunction, and the number of genes with changes in expression of more than 2-fold in leukocytes were significantly suppressed in the L. casei strain Shirota group compared with those in the placebo group. A significant increase in salivary cortisol levels before the examination was observed only in the placebo group. The administration of L. casei strain Shirota, but not placebo, significantly reduced gastrointestinal symptoms. Moreover, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing demonstrated that the L. casei strain Shirota group had significantly higher numbers of species, a marker of the alpha-diversity index, in their gut microbiota and a significantly lower percentage of Bacteroidaceae than the placebo group. Our findings indicate that the daily consumption of probiotics, such as L. casei strain Shirota, preserves the diversity of the gut microbiota and may relieve stress-associated responses of abdominal dysfunction in healthy subjects exposed to stressful situations., Importance: A novel clinical trial was conducted with healthy medical students under examination stress conditions. It was demonstrated that the daily consumption of lactic acid bacteria provided health benefits to prevent the onset of stress-associated abdominal symptoms and a good change of gut microbiota in healthy medical students., (Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)

The objective of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of fermented milk containing Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) in a healthy population. Healthy subjects with Bristol Stool Form Scale (BS) score < 3.0 were randomized to fermented milk treatment for 3 weeks or non-intervention control. The primary endpoint was the proportion of subjects that produced hard or lumpy stools (HLS) ≥ 25% of bowel movements (H-HLS). Secondary endpoints included changes in BS score, constipation-related symptom scores and stool parameters. Efficacy was analyzed in 39 subjects. After 3 weeks of treatment the proportion of H-HLS subjects had significantly decreased from 73.7% to 36.8%, whereas in the control group the proportion had increased from 75.0% to 85.0% during the same period (P = 0.002). The BS score was significantly improved after the treatment compared with the control (P < 0.001). In conclusion, daily consumption of fermented milk containing LcS reduced the incidence of HLS.

Infrequent bowel movements decrease the number of beneficial bacteria in the human intestines, thereby potentially increasing the individual's risk of colorectal cancer. The correction of such bowel problems could therefore make an important contribution to improving population health and quality-adjusted lifespan. We examined independent and interactive effects upon the fecal microbiota of two potentially favorable determinants of intestinal motility: the intake frequency of a fermented milk product containing Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) and the quantity/quality of habitual physical activity in 338 community-living Japanese aged 65–92 years. Subjects were arbitrarily grouped on the basis of questionnaire estimates of LcS intake (0–2, 3–5, and 6–7 days/week) and pedometer/accelerometer-determined patterns of physical activity [<7000 and ≥7000 steps/day, or <15 and ≥15 min/day of activity at an intensity >3 metabolic equivalents (METs)]. After adjustment for potential confounders, the respective numbers of various beneficial fecal bacteria tended to be larger in more frequent consumers of LcS-containing products, this trend being statistically significant (mostly P < 0.001) for total Lactobacillus , the Lactobacillus casei subgroup, and the Atopobium cluster; in contrast, there were no statistically significant differences in fecal bacterial counts between the physical activity groups. A multivariate-adjusted logistic regression analysis estimated that the risk of infrequent bowel movements (arbitrarily defined as defecating ≤3 days/week) was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in subjects who ingested LcS-containing products 6–7 rather than 0–2 days/week [odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 0.382 (0.149–0.974)] and was also lower in those who took ≥7000 rather than <7000 steps/day [0.441 (0.201–0.971)] or spent ≥15 rather than <15 min/day of physical activity at an intensity >3 METs [0.412 (0.183–0.929)]. The risk of infrequent bowel movements in subjects who combined 6–7 days/week of LcS with ≥7000 steps/day or ≥15 min/day of activity at >3 METs was only a tenth of that for individuals who combined 0–2 days/week of LcS with <7000 steps/day or <15 min/day at >3 METs. These results suggest that elderly individuals can usefully ingest LcS-containing supplements regularly (≥6 days/week) and also engage in moderate habitual physical activity (≥7000 steps/day and/or ≥15 min/day at >3 METs) in order to enhance their gastrointestinal health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a fermented milk drink containing Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on the bowel habit (with emphasis on stool consistency) o f subjects suffering from hard stools. Secondly, it was tested whether the probiotic strain (LcS), was able to survive throughout the gastrointestinal tract. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study was carried out over an eight-week period in subjects with symptoms o f constipation (n=120). To all subjects, 65 ml/day of a probiotic fermented milk drink containing LcS or a placebo was administered. Patients completed a questionnaire to assess the consistency o f their stools. In half of the study population, the survival of the probiotic strain (LcS) was tested using (i) culture and (ii) an LcS specific monoclonal antibody to identify the cultured colonies as LcS (ELISA). There was a significant decrease in stool hardening when consuming a fermented milk drink containing LcS. The observed clinical effect went hand in hand with the observed microbiological effect as the number of viable LcS bacteria in the faeces increased when consuming fermented milk drink containing LcS and decreased during wash-out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Probiotic bacteria are microorganisms that benefit the host through improvement of the balance of intestinal microflora and possibly by augmentation of host defense systems. We examined the mechanisms for the up-regulation of innate immune responses by a probiotic Lactobacillus casei ATCC27139, in vivo. Using mouse models of systemic Listeria monocytogenes infection and MethA fibrosarcoma tumorigenesis in combination with BALB/c and SCID mice, we found that parenteral administration of L. casei ATCC27139 confers a protective effect against L. monocytogenes infection and anti-tumor activity against MethA fibrosarcoma by activation of innate immunity, while L. casei ATCC27139-J1R strains, which are J1 phage-resistant strains that have been selected from MNNG-treated clones, lacked these activities. Substantial differences between ATCC27139 and ATCC27139-J1R strains were observed in the capacity to induce innate cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-12, IL-18, and IFN-γ, and pathogen-associated molecular pattern receptors, TLR2 and Nod2, by spleen cells. In addition, although phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 in spleen was equally enhanced in the ATCC27139- and the ATCC27139-J1R-treated groups, phosphorylation of both p38 MAPK and MAPKAPK-2 was significantly induced only by ATCC27139. Furthermore, inhibitors of NF-κB (sulfasalazine) and p38 MAPK (SB203580) significantly reduced cytokine production by the spleen cells of the mice treated with L. casei ATCC27139, suggesting that both NF-κB and p38 MAPK signaling pathways play important roles in the augmentation of innate immunity by the probiotic L. casei. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]