THE UTILIZATION OF PROBIOTICS AS A WAY TO IMPROVE HUMAN AND ANIMAL GUT HEALTH
Etleva Veizaj-Delia1, Rudina Pirushi2
1Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania
2University of Tirana, Faculty of Nursing. Tirana, Albania
etlevade@yahoo.com
Probiotics have been defined by Collins and Gibson (1999) as “a live microbial feed supplement which benefi¬cially affects the host animal by improving its intestinal balance”. There is a relatively large volume of literature that supports the use of probiotics to prevent or treat intestinal disorders. Currently, the best studied probiotics are the lactic acid bacteria, particularly Lactobacillus sp and Bifidobacterium sp. The mucosal surface of the intestinal tract represents the largest interface between the body and its environment. An effective local immune is necessary to pro¬tect the organism against the invasion of noxious antigens and microbes. No other organ of the body harbors more immune cells than the gut –associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), and a tremendous amount of antibodies is secreted into the intestinal lumen to neutralize and exclude harmful antigens. The numerous studies have reported immune stimulating abilities for different bacterial species. For example, in vitro cytokine production of macrophages was stimulated by Bifidobacteria (Marin et al., 1997). Bifidobacterium longum as well as several other lactic acid bacteria have been found to increase the total amount of intestinal IgA. Lactobacillus casei was reported to have immune ad¬juvant activity (Perdigon et al., 1989) and Lactobacillus plantarum was shown to increase antibody production against Escherichia coli.
Keywords: probiotics; Lactobacillus sp,; intestinal microbial balance; gut health
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