Multidrug resistant pathogenic bacterial biofilm inhibition by Lactobacillus plantarum exopolysaccharide

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the antibiofilm activity of the exopolysaccharide (EPS) isolated from fish derived Lactobacillus plantarum. The polysaccharide was purified by column chromatography and characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 1H NMR, HPLC, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and zeta potential (ζ). The EPS consist of three major sugars such as galactose, ribose and fructose at 137.5, 441, 159.3 µg/mg respectively. The antibiofilm activity of the EPS was performed against multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria. Effect of EPS on bacterial cell surface hydrophobicity, cell-cell interaction and cell-surface interaction was estimated to understand the interaction between bacterial membrane and polysaccharide. Further, antibiotic susceptibility of established biofilm in the presence of EPS was investigated using standard antibiotics. Atomic force microscopy was employed to observe the morphology of bacterial biofilms. The results indicated that, the EPS exhibited good antibiofilm activity against biofilm forming pathogenic bacteria. Direct interaction between the EPS and pathogenic cell surface was observed in this study that lead to the reduction of surface hydrophobicity, cell interaction and antibiotic resistance patterns. Hence, the EPS isolated from Lactobacillus plantarum could serve as an antibiofilm agent in medical and pharmaceutical applications.

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