Screening of Propionibacterium spp. for potential probiotic properties.

The main topic of this paper is the evaluation of adhesion of propionibacteria to IPEC-J2 cells and the survival at pH 2.5 and with 0.3% bile salts added, bioactivity towards pathogens and antibiotic resistance of Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii, Propionibacterium jensenii, Propionibacterium acidipropionici and Propionibacterium thoenii. Adhesion to IPEC-J2 cell lines was ca. 25-35% and significantly increased with CaCl2. Moreover, propionibacteria showed a reduction of cell count of ca. 0.5% at pH 2.5 after 3 h, whereas cell count increased after 24 h with bile salts; finally, they significantly inhibited Escherichia coli O157:H7.