The review is devoted to the problems of microbiota and the ways of it correction employing beneficial life bacteria- probiotics. It covers the issues related to the functioning of human microbiota and its importance for the health, individual variability of microbial content, functioning of the probiotics in the human organism and the history of probiotic studies with particular focus on the microbiological investigations in the USSR. The article discusses the safety issues related to probiotics and the problems with probiotic therapy, trying to explain the reasons for the side effects caused by probiotics. The necessity of personified selection of the probiotic strain or individual microbial therapy autoprobiotics is also discussed.

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Excess accumulation of white adipose tissue can lead to obesity-related metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance. We previously reported that intragastric administration of Lactobacillus plantarum No. 14 reduced adipocyte size in diet-induced obese C57BL/6 mice. The present study tested whether L. plantarum No. 14 affects adiposity and insulin sensitivity in an animal model of type-2 diabetes mellitus. Male KK/Ta mice were fed a normal-fat diet and intragastrically given L. plantarum No. 14 (10⁸ CFU/mouse) or vehicle daily for 10 weeks. Interscapular brown adipose tissue and inguinal, mesenteric, and retroperitoneal white adipose tissue weights, serum leptin and insulin concentrations, and insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) were significantly lower in L. plantarum No. 14-fed mice than in vehicle-fed mice. The sum of the inguinal, epididymal, mesenteric and retroperitoneal white adipose tissue weights correlated with serum leptin and non-esterified fatty acid concentrations and HOMA-IR. The mesenteric adipose tissue mRNA levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly lower in L. plantarum No. 14-fed mice than in vehicle-fed mice. Mesenteric adipose tissue weight correlated with interleukin-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and tumor necrosis factor-α mRNA levels. HOMA-IR correlated with monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and tumor necrosis factor-α mRNA levels. These data suggest that L. plantarum No. 14 prevents the development of insulin resistance, which is at least partly attributable to the prevention of obesity, in KK/Ta mice.

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Thrombosis is characterized by congenital and acquired procatarxis. Lactic acid bacteria-fermented soybean milk products (FS-LAB) inhibit hepatic lipid accumulation and prevent atherosclerotic plaque formation. However, the therapeutic efficacy of FS-LAB against thrombosis has yet to be investigated. In this study, FS-LAB were administered subcutaneously into the tails of rats, with the subsequent intravenous administration of κ-carrageenan 12 hr after the initial injection. In general, administration of κ-carrageenan induces thrombosis. The length of the infarcted tail regions was significantly shorter in the rats administered a single-fold or double-fold concentration of the FS-LAB solution compared with the region in control rats. Therefore, FS-LAB exhibited significant antithrombotic effects. Our study is the first to characterize the properties of FS-LAB and, by testing their efficacy on an in vivo rat model of thrombosis, demonstrate the potency of their antithrombotic effect.

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Salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) is used as an immunity marker, as saliva can be easily collected, noninvasively with little stress. However, several saliva collection methods can be used. Our comparison between samples collected using different methods demonstrated that the salivary IgA secretion rate in samples collected using an aspiration method was significantly correlated with that in samples collected using a swab method. Moreover, the significant circadian variation in salivary IgA secretion rate in the aspirated saliva suggested that the aspiration method does not suppress salivary IgA secretion rate variability compared with the swab method. Therefore, the aspiration method should be considered as the preferable saliva collection method.

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