Lactobacillus plantarum: An overview with emphasis in biochemical and healthy properties

Lactobacillus plantarum is a widespread lactic acid bacterium commonly found infermented foods as well as in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Their use asprobiotic has increased during the last years. L. plantarum is a facultative anaerobicbacterium which in the absence of oxygen is able to carry on fermentations and turnsugars into lactic acid. Its genome has been fully sequenced for some strains. Thisanalysis confirmed that L. plantarum has the encoded capacity for the uptake andutilization of many different sugars, uptake of peptides and formation of most aminoacids. This bacterium is commonly used for food fermentations like dairy products(fermented milk and cheeses), vegetable (pickles, table olives, sauerkraut, sourdough,etc.) and meat and fish sausages. In some strains of L. plantarum the ability to survivealong the human gastrointestinal tract has been proved aside of their capacity to adhere tothe epithelium cells of the small intestine where benefic actions can take place. Somestrains are used as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome and some clinical evidencesuggests effects in reducing pain, abdominal distention and flatulence. The intake of L.plantarum is shown to reduce certain gastrointestinal symptoms during treatment withantibiotics and the colonization of Clostridium difficile in ill patients treated withantibiotics Additionally, it has been shown that L. plantarum can protect epithelial cellsfrom E. coli-induced damage by preventing changes in host cell morphology, monolayerresistance and macromolecular permeability. These results show that different strains ofL. plantarum have a great potential to be used as a probiotic bacterium.