Abstract
BackgroundInfantile colic is a common disturb within the first 3 months of life, nevertheless the pathogenesis is incompletely understood and treatment remains an open issue. Intestinal gas production is thought to be one of the causes of abdominal discomfort in infants suffering from colic. However, data about the role of the amount of gas produced by infants' colonic microbiota and the correlation with the onset of colic symptoms are scanty. The benefit of supplementation with lactobacilli been recently reported but the mechanisms by which they exert their effects have not yet been fully defined. This study was performed to evaluate the interaction between Lactobacillus spp. strains and gas-forming coliforms isolated from stools of colicky infants.ResultsStrains of coliforms were isolated from stools of 45 colicky and 42 control breastfed infants in McConkey Agar and identified using PCR with species-specific primers, and the BBL™ Enterotube™ II system for Enterobacteriaceae. Gas-forming capability of coliforms was assessed in liquid cultures containing lactose as sole carbon source. The average count of total coliforms in colicky infants was significantly higher than controls: 5.98 (2.00-8.76) log10 vs 3.90 (2.50-7.10) CFU/g of faeces (p = 0.015). The following strains were identified: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae and Enterococcus faecalis. Then, 27 Lactobacillus strains were tested for their antagonistic effect against coliforms both by halo-forming method and in liquid co-cultures. Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp.delbrueckii DSM 20074 and L. plantarum MB 456 were able to inhibit all coliforms strains (halo-forming method), also in liquid co-cultures, thus demonstrating an antagonistic activity.ConclusionsThis study shows that two out of 27 strains of Lactobacillus examined possess an antimicrobial effect against six species of gas-forming coliforms isolated from colicky infants. Our findings may stimulate new researches to identify which Lactobacillus strains can improve colicky symptoms by acting on coliforms gut colonization.
Highlights
Infantile colic is a common disturb within the first 3 months of life, the pathogenesis is incompletely understood and treatment remains an open issue
Isolation and identification of coliforms from colicky infants Coliform colonies were obtained on MacConkey agar plates from faeces of all the 45 colicky infants and 42 controls
A total of 145 colonies was randomly picked up from the higher dilutions agar plates (10-6-10-8) and, only from colicky infants after sub-culturing in Luria Bertani medium (LB) agar, each purified strain was examined for gas production and characterized at species level by DNA sequencing and carbohydrate fermentation profiling
Summary
Infantile colic is a common disturb within the first 3 months of life, the pathogenesis is incompletely understood and treatment remains an open issue. Data about the role of the amount of gas produced by infants’ colonic microbiota and the correlation with the onset of colic symptoms are scanty. The intestinal microbiota exerts many physiological functions such as metabolic and trophic activities and plays an important role in the “barrier effect” against exogenous microbes [1]. It is involved in the development and activation of the intestinal immune system: a recent study suggests that a more diverse gut microbiota early in life might prevent allergy development [2]. Gut microbiota is acquired during early life and hydrogen excretion in subjects suffering from infantile colic [5]. Few old data support the notion that colicky infants produce more breath hydrogen in the fasting state and in response to feedings, which is thought to be evidence of lactose intolerance [9,10,11]
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