A group from Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad, Pakistan, etc. has reported that Lactobacillus agilis isolated from rhizosphere of the medicinal plants Ocimum tenuiflorum, Azadirachta indica, Ficus carica shows potential as a novel biotherapeutic agent.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8568817/
Potential probiotic bacteria can be used as a biotherapeutic agent and a sustainable alternative to antibiotics, as an anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic agent without causing any serious side effects. In this experiment, the following assays were performed to select potentials.
Safe status assays
First of all, to exclude potentially harmful bacterial strains, testing of safe status was done before selection of bacterial strains for human as probiotics.
(1) should be negative for blood hemolytic activities and (2) did not show a breakdown of gelatin.
Antibiotic susceptibility
The strains which show less or no resistance to antibiotics were selected, and L. agilis was the best.
In-vitro antibacterial assay
The antibacterial results showed the significant marked antagonistic activity of L. agilis NMCC-15 to kill or inhibit the growth of all the tested bacterial pathogens (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus).
Antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory assays
Percentage inhibition of the free radical from the mean values showed the comparable effects of L. agilis supernatant to the standard drug with values 68% and 73%, respectively.
L. agilis inhibited the activities of the α-amylase (anti-diabetic potential) by 51.3% than control.
The supernatant of L. agilis showed 61.6% for denaturation albumin protein while aspirin showed 69% activity.