Probiotics have attained popularity among consumers worldwide as a natural approach to maintain or restore human health. Many products are already available in the market place with even more potential candidates in development. Knowledge gained from the Human Microbiome Project supports the utility of probiotics to achieve a balanced microbial community and potentially reduce or alleviate certain disorders. Most of the research studies and commercial probiotic products have focused on personal care products, which consist of over- the-counter drugs, cosmetics, and other consumer products, are used by almost everyone on a daily basis. Although the understanding and development of probiotics in personal care products is lagging behind the rapid progress that has been made in food products. This paper reviews recent findings related to microbial communities in the skin, where a large number of personal care products are applied and discusses the opportunities and challenges of probiotics in these products. The Probiotic bacteria (LAB) were obtained from Egypt Microbiology Culture Collection (MIRCEN), Fac. of agric., Ain Shams Univ., Cairo, Egypt and screened for the production of bacteriocin. The strain isolated gave an inhibitory activity against several Lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The strain was identified as Lactobacillus acidophilus CL1285 and Befedo-bacterium sp. The study showed that the inhibitory activity was not caused by hydrogen peroxide, organic acids or bacteriophage. The bacteriocin production reached the maximum level after 10 hours of incubation with an activity of 200 AU/ml. The bacteriocin was sensitive towards trypsin, α-chymotrypsin, β-chymotrypsin, α-amylase and lysozyme. |
