Browsing by Author "Luz, Neila Rodnina Lima da"
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- Evaluation of probiotic and host-interactions mechanisms of Lactobacillus species in response to antifungal drugsPublication . Luz, Neila Rodnina Lima da; Gaspar, Carlos Alberto da Silva; Oliveira, Ana Cristina Palmeira deLactobacillus are identified as constituents of the healthy vaginal microflora, acting as probiotics that protect it from infection by producing bacteriocins and inhibiting adhesion sites. However, some women have cytolytic vaginosis characterized by excessive proliferation of Lactobacillus species that can damage the intermediate vaginal epithelium. This symptomatology is similar to vulvovaginal candidosis and can therefore be diagnosed as such and treated whit antifungal therapy. The present study aims to understand what effect antifungal therapy has on commensal microorganisms and the impact on predicting therapeutic strategies. Six Lactobacillus strains were included, and susceptibility to antifungal drugs (azoles) was determined by the CLSI microdilution method. In addition, metabolism and adhesion capacity were evaluated in vitro in co-culture with HeLa cells. As results, we observed that econazole, fenticonazole, and isoconazole, besides inhibiting the growth of the strains by approximately 50% also decreased the adhesion capacity in vitro. In contrast, besides increasing the adhesion capacity in vitro, voriconazole also increases the adhesion capacity of the strains on HeLa cells ten-fold. Furthermore, fenticonazole increases glucose consumption and consequently lactate production by around 20% when compared with control. It will be the next step in this line of research to elucidate the mechanisms of action of fenticonazole as it increases the adhesion of the strains in HeLa but decreases their adhesion in vitro. Finally, the data obtained suggests voriconazole is the best antifungal therapy since it is more specific to Candida spp and promotes the adhesion of the probiotic strains.