Protective Effect of Probiotics against Infection of Human Corneal Epithelial Cells.

Probiotic therapy needs consideration as an alternative strategy to prevent and possibly treat corneal infection. This study aimed to assess the preventive effect of and subsp. on reducing the infection of human corneal epithelial (HCE) cells caused by . The probiotics' preventive effect against infection was evaluated in cell monolayers pretreated with each probiotic 1 h and 24 h prior to challenge followed by 1 h and 24 h of growth in combination. Cell adhesion, cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory, and antinitrosative activities were evaluated. and adhered to HCE cells, preserved occludin tight junctions' integrity, and increased mucin production on a SkinEthic HCE model. Pretreatment with or significantly protected HCE cells from infection at 24 h, increasing cell viability at 110% (110.51 ± 5.15; ≤ 0.05) and 137% (137.55 ± 11.97; ≤ 0.05), respectively. Each probiotic showed anti-inflammatory and antinitrosative activities, reducing TNF-α level ( ≤ 0.001) and NO amount ( ≤ 0.001) and reestablishing IL-10 level ( ≤ 0.001). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that and exert protective effects in the context of corneal infection caused by by restoring cell viability and modulating inflammatory cytokine release.