RESEARCH LINES

Probiotic vaginal Lactic Acid Bacteria
Director: Dr. María Elena Fátima Nader.
Participants: Dr. María Silvina Juárez Tomás. Lic. Esteban Vera Pingitore. Dr. Clara Silva de Ruiz. Dr. Virginia Ocaña. Dr. Fernando Sesma.

Lactobacilli are the predominant microorganisms of female urogenital tract, where they contribute to maintain the equilibrium of the ecosystem. Different exogenous and endogenous factors affect the population of lactobacilli, increasing the risk of female urogenital infections. These infections are diverse and produce gynecological and obstetric complications, being also able to affect children new born. The Urinary Tract Infections are very frequent and show high degree of recurrence in teen agers and menopausic women. The use of a probiotic vaginal product constitutes an alternative therapy to the treatments with antibiotics, allowing to reestablish the normal vaginal microbiota and to protect to host against uropathogens. Our research group has isolated lactobacilli from human vagina. Some microorganisms were selected by their beneficial and technological characteristics, such as adhesion ability, auto-aggregation, co-aggregation with uropathogen microorganisms, and inhibition of growth of uropatogens by antimicrobial substances (organic acids, hydrogen peroxide and bacteriocins). Also, they present an optimal growth in culture media of low cost, resistance to the storage in presence of protectors and pharmaceutical excipients. The selected microorganisms do not produce side-effects when administered to experimental animals. Some probiotic lactobacilli have been licensed to the Italian company Anidral-Probiotical for the large-scale production of biomass and their inclusion in pharmaceutical products.

Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria in veterinary infections prevention
• Bovine Metritis
Director: Dr. María Elena Fátima Nader.
Participants: Dr. María Claudia Otero.

Infectious diseases in dairy herd are one of the most important challenges that must be resolve for the producer to obtain greater efficiency in their activity. Among them, infectious metritis and mastitis affect dairy cows which are more susceptible to infections in pre and postpartum periods, with the consequent antibiotic therapy, antiseptics and hormones. These therapies do not improve the reproductive quality or resolve chronic infections but produce bacterial resistance and antibiotic presence in the milk that must be discarded, changing general health conditions of the animal. Applying probiotic products to prevent and control infection diseases in dairy cattle would improve the quality of the products derived and the profitability from the activity. We have good epithelial cells adhesion ability to bovine vagina, auto-agregants, antagonist substances producers (acid organic and hydrogen peroxide) against pathogens of metritis strains that can be used to design pharmaceutical product for veterinary application.

•Bovine Mastitis
Director: Dr. María Elena Fátima Nader.
Participants: Pharm. María Carolina Espeche. Dr. Fernando Sesma.

Bovine mastitis is the cattle disease that produces the higher economic losses in a dairy herd. It implies by one side the dairy cow retirement of the productive circuit and the application of antibiotic therapies that help to increase the microbial resistance and the antibiotic presence in the milk that must be discarded. The prevention and treatment of mastitis are made with systemic or local therapies (pre and post-dipping) applying antimicrobial products, affecting negatively the milk quality without the reduction of the rate of new infections. Our objective is to design a product which contains probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and/or their antagonist metabolites for local administration in cows or by oral administration in newborn calves. These products will provide a complementary alternative method to the sanitary practices preventing mastitis and potentially gastrointestinal tract infections in newborn calves. A product like these doesn’t exist in the world.

•Neonatal Diarrhea in Calves
Director: Dr. María Elena Fátima Nader.
Participants: Bioch. Natalia Cecilia Maldonado

Neonatal Diarrhea in Calves produce high economical looses and elevated morbidity and mortality rates in this group of animals. Because of our laboratory study the ability of Lactic Acid Bacteria to colonize the urogenital bovine tract, and the reconstruction of the ecological equilibrium of this tract, this group of microorganisms will be the first in take contact with the sterile intestinal tract of the calf during the passage thought the vaginal birth canal. Base on this hypothesis, this part of the project is focus in the selection of those vaginal microorganisms that could resist the passage though the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants and to be administrated with other strains isolated from colostrums and feces of neonatal calves. The final objective is the selection of Lactic Acid Bacteria that could be administrated in both, to new born calves and previously to the vaginal of the pregnant cows.  

•Probiotics as biological control agents in raniculture (CERELA-INSIBIO)
Director: Dr. María Elena Fátima Nader.
Participants: Dr. Sergio E. Pasteris. Dr. Marta I. Bülher. Bioq. María G. Montel Mendoza.

Rana catesbeiana meat is a delicatessen for international gastronomy according to their biological attributes, especially their muscle mass. Moreover, bullfrog meat has a high proportion of essential amino acids, a large degree of absorbable proteins, low contents of lipids (mainly cholesterol) and sodium chloride. The by-products are required by different industries. For instance, the skin is a rich source of pharmacological and antimicrobial peptides, which play various roles in the regulation of physiological functions of the skin and in the defence against predators or micro-organisms. These facts involve an intensive bullfrog production process where the animals are more susceptible to infectious diseases, which affect the cost of production and the human health. The bacterial dermatosepticemia or red-leg syndrome (RLS) is the most common diseases in hatcheries, being Enterobacteriaceae the main etiological agents. The aim of this project is to study the microbiota in R. catesbeiana hatcheries located in different geographical areas of Argentina, and then to study the beneficial properties of lactic acid bacteria, Bacillus and Bifidobacterium which are part of R. catesbeiana hatcheries. The final objective is the design a probiotic for raniculture with potential application in fish aquaculture.

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