Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and its lysate protects human epidermal keratinocytes from the toxic effect of specific wound pathogens

Muna Alhubail1, Sheena Cruickshank1, Andrew McBain2, Catherine O'Neill1

1School of Biological Science, 2School of Health Sciences

Abstract


Chronic wounds represent a huge challenge for health care providers. Infection of these wounds further complicates the situation and limits the effectiveness of available treatments necessitating the development of new treatments to eradicate infection and promote healing. The topical use of probiotics may offer new alternatives that are efficient and safe to use. L. rhamnosus GG (LGG) is one of the best studied probiotics. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of both viable LGG and lysate in protecting human epidermal keratinocytes from the toxic effect of wound pathogens such as: Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes and Acinetobacter baumannii. Trypan blue exclusion assay was used to assess the viability of human epidermal keratinocyte after 24 h of incubation with each wound pathogen, and following co-incubation of wound pathogens with viable LGG or with different concentrations of LGG lysate. All the tested pathogens significantly reduced the percentage viability of keratinocytes. Both viable LGG and its lysate significantly increased the viability of keratinocytes when co-incubated with S. aureus and E. coli. However, neither viable LGG nor its lysate induced significant increase in keratinocyte viability when co-incubated with P. aeruginosa, S. pyogenes and A. baumannii. In conclusion, both viable LGG and its lysate may have utility in prevention of wound infection. However, such effects may be restricted to certain pathogens.