Toxicity evaluation for an Enterococcus faecium strain TM39 in vitro and in vivo.
Previously, we have screened lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains from infant feces and evaluated their functional properties. We found a strain of Enterococcus faecium termed as TM39 which is acid and bile tolerant, able to adhere to the intestinal epithelium and with antagonistic activity against Helicobacter pylori. In this study, we demonstrate that strain TM39 is not vancomycin resistant, not invasive to human gastric carcinoma cell line TSGH 9201 and human intestinal epithelial cell line Int-407 in vitro. In addition, we have conducted the in vivo study to evaluate the toxicity of this E. faecium strain TM39 in Wistar rats. For such study, cells of strain TM39 were daily oral administrated with dose of 1 x 10(12), 5 x 10(11) and 2 x 10(10) CFU/kg of body weight, respectively, to the rats for 28 consecutive days. There were no adverse effects on the general condition, behavior, growth, feed and water consumption, hematology, clinical chemistry values, organ weights and histopathologic analysis of the rats. Results of this study demonstrate that consumption of strain E. faecium TM39, even in large quantities, is not associated with any obvious signs of toxicity in Wistar rats.
Department of Food Science, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, 250 Kuo-Kwang Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan, ROC.
Cheng-Chih
CC
Tsai
Tseng-Huang
TH
Liu
Ming-Hui
MH
Chen
Chin-Chuan
CC
Tsai
Hau-Yang
HY
Tsen
D000818:Animals; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003470:Culture Media; D004032:Diet; D004326:Drinking / Q000502:physiology; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance
D003470:Culture Media