Anticandidal Activities of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Fermented Sorghum Bicolor

ABSTRACT Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a group of beneficial microorganisms that have been used by humans for centuries, both as probiotics and as alternatives to conventional antibiotics. This study investigated the occurrence and antibiotic susceptibility of lactic acid bacteria in traditionally fermented Sorghum bicolor using standard bacteriological protocol, the VITEK 2 automated system, and the disc diffusion method. The efficacy of cell-free supernatant (CFS) from lactic acid bacteria was assessed against Candida sp. obtained from oral samples using the agar-well diffusion method. The lactic acid bacterial loads in fermented Sorghum (n = 12) ranged between 4.0 x 104 and 3.5 x 105 CFU/mL. The lactic acid bacteria isolated were Lactobacillus plantarum (n = 4), Lactobacillus fermentum (n = 2), Lactobacillus brevis (n = 4) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (n = 2). Of the 12 lactic acid bacteria obtained, 66.70% to 91.7% exhibited sensitivity to all the antibiotics tested, 50% were multidrug-resistant (MDR), and 50% were non multidrug-resistant strains. The cell-free supernatant of L. plantarum LP-03 and LP-04, L. fermentum LF-01 and L. acidophilus LA-02 inhibited the growth of Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida krusei, and Candida parapsilosis with zones of inhibition (x̄ ± S.D) ranging between 10.0 ± 0.0 and 17.5 ± 1.5 mm, while the cell-free supernatant of L. brevis LB-02 showed no anticandidal efficacy against C. albicans and C. tropicalis. The findings of this study suggest that the cell-free supernatant of lactic acid bacteria possess anticandidal activity, indicating their potential use in the development of drugs to combat oral infections caused by Candida species.