1. Introduction
The rising anti-microbial resistance of pathogens consists a worldwide risk to human health and thus efficient antimicrobial alternatives are required urgently [
1]. Bacterial biofilms, formed by the polymeric metabolites secreted by microbes, are one of the main resistance mechanisms that bacteria utilize to survive against various stresses, including antibiotics, disinfectants, and host defenses. The use of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) to combat bacterial biofilms is a rapidly growing trend. Among others, it is documented that LAB produce several bioactive molecules, such as organic acids, alcohols, carbon dioxide, diacetyl, hydrogen peroxide and bacteriocins [
2,
3], many of which exert powerful antimicrobial activity [
2,
4]. Generally, most of these compounds are secreted during cultivation in a broth medium following the proliferation of bacteria cells, known as a supernatant. Hence, it has been observed that the LAB culture supernatant acts efficiently against bacterial biofilms [
5,
6,
7,
8]. Thus, probiotics and the antimicrobial agents produced by probiotics have recently been proposed as potential candidates for controlling bacterial biofilm formation against foodborne pathogens [
9,
10,
11].
Bacterial biofilm formation is a consequence of the accumulation and non-reversible attachment of bacterial cells on a biological or non-biological surface, as well as of a body of extracellular polymers (Extracellular Polymeric Substance – ESP) or glycocalyx that is secreted by the same microorganisms [
12,
13].
In the food industry, microbial biofilms have been found in dairy products, fish and poultry, as well as in the production lines, e.g. of ready-to-eat manufacturing plants [
14]. Members of the species
Salmonella have been reported to form biofilms on a variety of surfaces and equipment, while
Bacillus cereus,
Escherichia coli,
Shigella sp. and
Staphylococcus aureus have been isolated during the production process of dairy products [
15]. Furthermore, biofilm formation by
E. coli was observed and isolated from surfaces during production of cattle derived meat products [
14]. Frequently observed species, related to biofilm formation, are staphylococci,
Enterobacteriaceae and the foodborne pathogen
Listeria monocytogenes. Therefore, addressing and controlling the formation of microbial biofilms from foodborne pathogens is a challenge for the food industry, where the need to produce safe products is of paramount importance.
Hence, the aim of the present study was to assess biofilm removal potential of cell-free supernatant (CFS) of 5 LAB strains belonging to Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus species, isolated from traditional Greek foods, formed by common foodborne pathogens.
3. Results and Discussion
The effect of neutralized and non-neutralized CFSs resulted in significant high removal percentages of biofilms formed by the bacterial species
S. Enteritidis,
S. Typhimurium,
E. coli, L. monocytogenes and
S. aureus (
Figure 1 and
Figure 2). The removal percentage decreased with decreasing CFSs concentrations (from 100 to 20%). The non-neutralized CFSs were significantly more effective at removing the bacterial biofilms (p < 0.05), than the neutralized CFSs.
The non-neutralized CFSs with the greatest activity against S. Enteritidis bacterial biofilms were those of L. rhamnosus OLXAL-3 and L. rhamnosus OLXAL-4 strains (88% and 89%, respectively, p < 0.05), while for S. Tyhpimurium biofilms the most effective CFS was of L. rhamnosus OLXAL-3 strain (88%, p < 0.05) (Figures 1a and 1b). Likewise, the neutralized CFSs with the greatest activity against S. Enteritidis bacterial biofilms were L. rhamnosus CHTH-2 (78%, p < 0.05) and for S. Tyhpimurium of L. rhamnosus OLXAL-3 (79%, p < 0.05) (Figures 2a and 2b).
The above results are in agreement with previous research by Divyashree et al. [
19], in which the effect of non-neutralized CFS of
Lactobacillus casei MYSRD 108 and
Lactobacillus plantarum MYSRD 71 against
Salmonella paratyphi bacterial biofilms at 15%
v/v CFS concentration was studied, reporting a removal activity over 75% by the non-neutralized
Lactobacillus casei MYSRD 108 CFS and 81% by the non-neutralized
Lactobacillus plantarum MYSRD 71 CFS of
S. paratyphi biofilms, respectively. As expected, neutralized CFSs had significantly lower activity. The greater biofilm removal activity of the non-neutralized CFSs of the two strains was due to the presence of organic acids, according to Divyashree et al. [
19]. In another study [
20], the non-neutralized CFS of the probiotic strain
Weissella confusa WM36 resulted in the removal of 95.68% of
Salmonella typhi biofilm at 20%
v/v, while the non-neutralized CFS of
Weissella viridescens WM33 removed 66.46% of
Salmonella Typhimurium biofilms at 15%
v/v. Similarly, Tazehabadi et al. [
21] studied the activity of
Bacillus subtilis KATMIRA 1933 and
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens B-1895 CFS against
Salmonella enterica subsp.
enterica serovar Hadar,
Salmonella enterica subsp.
enterica serovar Enteritidis phage type 4 and
Salmonella enterica subsp.
enterica serovar Thompson biofilms. The CFS
of Bacillus subtilis KATMIRA 1933 removed 51.1, 48.3 and 56.9%
of the biofilms formed by the Salmonella species studied, while the corresponding removal percentages observed by
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens B-1895 CFS were 30.4, 28.6 and 35.5%, respectively. The activity against biofilms was not associated with low pH and organic acids production, as the pH of CFS was approximately 5.85 for both strains, but with the production of subtilisin peptides.
The highest removal activity against E. coli bacterial biofilms was noted by non-neutralized L. rhamnosus OLXAL-3 CFS (87%, p < 0.05), while the CFSs of L. rhamnosus OLXAL-3 and L. rhamnosus OLXAL-4 strains were most effective against L. monocytogenes biofilms (84% and 82% removal percentage, respectively, p < 0.05) (Figures 1c and 1d). On the other hand, the most efficient removal of E. coli and L. monocytogenes biofilms was noted for L. rhamnosus GG neutralized CFS (67% and 69%, respectively, p < 0.05) (Figures 2c and 2d).
Abdelhamid et al. [
22] studied the activity of non-neutralized CFSs of six probiotic bacteria of the genera
Bifidobacterium and
Lacticaseibacillus against biofilms of multi-resistant
E. coli WW1 and IC2 strains. The CFSs of
B. longum and
L. plantarum removed 57.94% and 64.57% of
E. coli IC2 and
E. coli WW1 biofilms, respectively. Furthermore, the skim milk CFS fermented by
L. helveticus or
L. rhamnosus, separately
, removed 31.52 and 17.68% of
E. coli IC2 biofilms, respectively, while the corresponding removal percentages recorded by
B. longum or
L. helveticus CFS were 70.81 and 69.49%. In a similar study published by Apiwatsiri et al. [
23], neutralized and non-neutralized CFSs of
Lactobacillus plantarum 22F, 25F and
Pediococcus acidilactici 72N strains showed significant removal activity against bacterial biofilm strains of
E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin.
According to the study by Shao et al. [
24], non-neutralized CFS of three
Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains removed effectively
L. monocytogenes biofilms.
Leuconostoc species produce bacteriocins, such as mesentericin Y105 produced by
Leuconostoc mesenteroides spp.
mesenteroides, leucocin A-UAL 187, which is produced by
Leuconostoc gelidum, carnosin 44A produced by
Leuconostoc carnosum and leuconocin S, which is produced
by Leuconostoc paramesenteroides [
25]. Bacteriocins of
Leuconostoc species possess significantly high removal activity against
Listeria biofilms. Moreover, Moradi et al. [
26] studied the effect of
L. acidophilus LA5 and
L. casei 431 CFS on
L. monocytogenes biofilms. A greater biofilm removal activity was noted for
L. acidophilus CFS and it was found that
L. acidophilus CFS contains 1.8% lauric acid, which is considered a possible surfactant, yet the mechanism of action is not fully understood. According to Moradi et al. [
26] and in agreement with our results, the action of LAB CFSs in the removal of bacterial biofilms was strain-specific and was due to the presence of compounds, such as exopolysaccharides, organic acids and surfactants.
Regarding the removal activity of non-neutralized CFSs against
S. aureus bacterial biofilms, the highest removal percentages were observed by
L. rhamnosus OLXAL-2 and
L. rhamnosus OLXAL-3 strains (87% and 89%, respectively, p < 0.05) (
Figure 1e). On the other hand, the neutralized
L. rhamnosus CHTH-2 CFS was the most effective on removing
S. aureus bacterial biofilms (70%, p < 0.05) (
Figure 2e).
In a recent study, Koohestani et al. [
18] explored the removal activity of
L. acidophilus LA5 and
L. casei 431 CFSs against
S. aureus bacterial biofilms. In accordance to our findings, their results highlighted the significant removal activity of both CFSs tested, in a concentration-
dependent manner. Of note, the subsequent neutralization of both
Lactobacillus CFSs resulted in reduced activity, in agreement to our results, as well as to previous reports [
27].
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, Y.K.; methodology, G.M.; validation, G.M., V.K., G.N. and Y.K.; formal analysis, G.M. and V.K.; investigation, G.M., V.K.., G.N.; resources, Y.K.; data curation, G.M., V.K., G.N. and Y.K.; writing—original draft preparation, G.M., V.K., G.N.; writing—review and editing, Y.K.; visualization, G.M., V.K., G.N and Y.K.; supervision, Y.K.; project administration, Y.K.; funding acquisition, Y.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.