ISSN 2756-3391
African Journal of Parasitology Research | Vol. 14, No. 8, August 2026 | pp. 725–732
DOI: 10.46882/AJPR/140725
Article Type: Full Length Research Paper
Title: Gastrointestinal survival of probiotic Lactobacillus strains: Implications for blocking gut parasites
Names of Authors: Emanuel Vamanu¹*, Adrian Vamanu¹, Sultana Nita², Nicoleta Rusu²
Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Faculty of Biotechnology and Biotehnol Center, University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest, Bd. Mărăşti No. 59, District 1, Bucharest, Romania. ²National Institute of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research Development, ICCF Bucharest, Vitan Road No. 112, Sector 3, Bucharest, Romania.
Abstract: The viability maintenance of Lactobacillus paracasei IL2 and Lactobacillus plantarum IL3 strains in gastrointestinal conditions represents one of the most important characteristics regarding their use for obtaining probiotic products. The tests were performed with a cell suspension kept in 0.5% NaCl. The influences of pepsin (3 grams per liter) at pH values of 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3.0, as well as of pancreatin (1 gram per liter) in the presence of bile salts (1.5, 2, 3 and 5 milligrams per milliliter) were determined. The influence of casein and mucin, in a concentration of 1 gram per liter, were also established in the aforementioned conditions. It was observed that casein presented a longer viability maintenance; a fact also confirmed by the calculation of the mathematical parameters of viability and mortality, when mucin was either used or not, especially in the case of gastric transit. The results proved that the tested strains maintained their viability even at pH between 1.8 and 2.0 and at an even higher concentration, of 2 milligrams per milliliter, of bile salts, but up to two hours as of the exposure to the conditions of the simulated small intestinal juice. Such results were also confirmed by the cumulated effect of the simulated gastric and small intestinal juice, the strains thus increasing their viability with an average of 15% in the presence of casein.
Keywords: Mucin, casein, ColonyQuant, pepsin, pancreatin
Manuscript Timeline: Received: January 04, 2026; Revised: February 12, 2026; Accepted: March 09, 2026; Published: August 14, 2026