Vaginal Lactobacillus spp. isolated from Korean Women

초록

Indigenous vaginal Lactobaillus spp. play an important role in maintaining vaginal health by producing antimicrobial substances or bacteriocins to inhibit undesirable pathogens. A number of lactobacilli strains were isolated from vagina of korean women and molecularly identified to determine the species prevalence among them. The isolates were initially selected on Rogosa SL agar plate and incubated under anaerobic condition prior to being examined for Lactobacillus spp. characteristics (i.e. gram-positive, rod-shape, catalase negative, and facultative anaerobe). Gram stainging, microscopic examination, and catalase test were used to presumptively identify the isolates as Lactobacillus spp.. As a result 106 putative lactobacilli strains were isolated from the vaginal samples of 205 korean women. The initial characterization was performed on 106 isolates in terms of their cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and antimicrobial activity. Several isolates were chosen with high antimicrobial activity and high CSH. Molecular identification of isolated Lactobacillus spp. are currently being carried out using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and DNA sequencing of 16S rDNA.