Lactobacillus therapies
AssigneeUrex Biotech, Inc.
InventorsGregor Reid, Andrew W. Bruce, Henk J. Busscher, Henny C. Van der Mei
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Abstract
The present invention is directed towards isolated lactobacillus biosurfactants and the process for producing same. The present invention is also directed to methods for preventing urogenital infection in mammals using the isolated lactobacillus biosurfactant. The present invention is further directed to methods of inhibiting microbial biofilm formation using the isolated lactobacillus biosurfactant to prevent the formation of bacterial biofilms, and to displace adherent biofilm-forming bacteria from surfaces.
Claims22
A Lactobacillus biosurfactant which has been isolated by (1) screening for biosurfactant production and (2) confirmation of biosurfactant production by measuring a surface tension decrease of a biosurfactant suspension greater than about 8 mJ m.sup.-2, and wherein the biosurfactant is isolated by the method comprising:
- (a) harvesting Lactobacillus cells;
- (b) washing and resuspending said cells in a buffer solution;
- (c) subjecting said cells to conditions sufficient to release said biosurfactant;
- and
- (d) separating the biosurfactant from said cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.