The aim of this study was to evaluate the probiotic properties of six thermotolerant lactic acid bacteria isolated from cooked meat products. The bacteria were typed, by determination of the DNA sequence of their 16S rRNA coding genes, as one Enterococcus faecium (UAM1 strain) and five Pediococcus pentosaceus (UAM2-UAM6 strains). Under gastric stress conditions the viability of the Pediococci decreased more than five-fold, whereas E. faecium showed a high resistance (61% survival). Exposure to small intestine stress did not drastically affect the survival of any of the strains (less than one-fold decrease), which were able to grow in the presence of 0.3% bile. A hydrophilic surface profile was observed, with higher affinity for chloroform than for xylene. Strains showed high levels of auto-aggregation as well as co-aggregation with Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. The adherence of E faecium UAM1 to human Caco-2 cells (around 20%) was significantly higher than that obtained with the P. pentosaceus strains (2%–5%) and Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5 (6%). The overall results indicate that E. faecium UAM1, has probiotic properties that predict its capability to colonize in competition with pathogens in the intestinal tract. This bacterium deserves further investigation for its potential as a component of functional food.

这项研究的目的是评估从熟肉制品中分离出来的六种耐热乳酸菌的益生菌特性。通过确定细菌的16S rRNA编码基因的DNA序列，将细菌分类为一株粪便肠球菌（UAM1株）和五株戊糖小球菌（UAM2-UAM6株）。在胃压力条件下，Pediococci的活力下降了五倍以上，而粪肠球菌表现出较高的抵抗力（存活率61％）。暴露于小肠应激并没有严重影响任何菌株的存活（降低幅度不到一倍），这些菌株能够在存在0.3％胆汁的情况下生长。观察到亲水表面轮廓，其对氯仿的亲和力高于对二甲苯。菌株显示出高水平的自聚集以及与革兰氏阳性和革兰氏阴性细菌病原体的共聚集。的粘附ë肠球菌UAM1人类Caco-2细胞（约20％）是显著比与所获得的更高的戊糖片球菌菌株（2％-5％）和嗜酸乳杆菌LA-5（6％）。总体结果表明，屎肠球菌UAM1具有益生菌特性，可预测其在肠道中与病原体竞争时定居的能力。这种细菌作为功能食品的一部分潜力值得进一步研究。