Value and feasibility of probiotic use
Authors: Paraniak R.P. , Kalyn B.M. , Nahirniak T.B. 
Published: June 2018

The article substantiates the importance, the principle of the action of probiotics, the purpose of their application, the mechanisms of therapeutic and prophylactic action, the effectiveness of the use of probiotic drugs and the feasibility of their application. It is known that the ideal probiotic should be of the origin of the body for which it will be used, be resistant to acids and bile, capable of adhesion and colonization in the intestinal tract or other ecosystems, to produce antibiotic substances, to prevent the development of cariogenic and pathogenic microorganisms, to be safe for use in products and clinics and have a well-defined and validated clinical trial with a positive effect on human or animal health. Positive effects of probiotics are manifested in reducing the duration of toxic effects or increasing the resistance to action of pathogens. The components of probiotics are representatives of normal microflora, and therefore the main mechanisms that determine their degree and direction of healing effect on the host organism are colonization resistance and immunomodulatory ability, regulation of metabolic processes and detoxification action, anti-carcinogenic activity. These functions are implemented through enzymatic, vitamin-synthesizing, antagonistic and adhesive activity. Strains of bacteria of probiotics produce a wide range of digestive enzymes - amylase, lipase, protease, pectinase, endoglucanose and phytase. Important impetus for the use of probiotics was the recommendations and requirements for limiting the use of antibiotics in livestock used for therapeutic purposes. The adverse effect of fodder antibiotics is the appearance of diarrhea in animals, as well as the risk of the formation and rapid reproduction of antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Salmonella spec. Probiotic drugs are most often used in the treatment of a number of pathological conditions occurring against the background of disturbed normal microflora of the human body. Probiotic drugs can also be used for the prevention and treatment of major dental diseases: caries, chronic generalized periodontitis of catarrhal gingivitis, aphthous stomatitis. In experimental studies, it has been shown that intestinal microbiota, interacting with the host organism, can increase the number of osteoclasts, for example, in the femoral bones, and, consequently, decrease their density, which confirms the growth of catabolic activity of bones under conditions of intestinal microbiota dysbiosis. Recently, for the normalization of metabolic processes in the organism of farm animals and poultry began to use probiotic drugs, which, in essence, are a living microbial supplement to the feed and have a positive effect on the body through improving its intestinal microbial balance. Probiotics, as environmentally safe drugs, help to reduce the man-caused and microbial stress on the animals organism in conditions of intensive production of livestock products, which prevents the development of many pathologies in animals, and, consequently, in humans. Probiotic products should be characterized by a pronounced antagonistic activity to a wide range of pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms, to be strong immunomodulators and to produce bacteriocin and enzymes. The bacteria that are part of the probiotics should remain viable when passing through the gastrointestinal tract of animals and poultry, as well as in the production of feed (for example, in granulation). At present, the effectiveness of the use of probiotics for stimulation of growth intensity and prevention of diseases of young animals, increase of productivity and quality of received products, prevention of gynecological diseases in cows, prevention of viral diseases of bees and increase of their productivity, reduction of parasitic diseases in fish and increase of efficiency of fish farming is substantiated. A promising direction for improving probiotics is the development of complex drugs, which include different types of bacterial cultures that complement each other by specific activity and the effect on opportunistic microorganisms.