Efficacy of barley based probiotic food mixture in treatment of pathogenic E.coli induced diarrhoea in mice

Abstract

An indigenous food mixture was developed by mixing barley flour (raw and germinated), whey powder and tomato pulp in the ratio of 2:1:1:1 (w/w). The developed food (100 g) was mixed with water (500 ml) and autoclaved at 1.5 kg/cm² for 15 min. It was then cooled and inoculated with Lactobacillus acidophilus curd (5%) and incubated at 37°C for 12 h containing 10⁶ cfu/ml broth. Fermented food mixture formulated from germinated barley flour maintained adequate cell viability (8.88 cfu/ml) as compared to non-germinated food mixture. To study the therapeutic effect of the food mixture, diarrhoea was induced in mice using 0.5 ml of aqueous suspension orally with the help of sterilized syringe to each of the overnight fasted mice and the mice were examined till onset of diarrhoea. The aqueous suspension was prepared by using 10 ml of six h old culture of E. coli cells (5 × 10¹¹ cfu/ml) and 6 ml alkaline solution (powdered chalk (40%), colloidal kaolin (43%) and magnesium trisilicate (17%) and both were mixed in 10:6 (v/v) proportions. After induction of diarrhoea, the mice were divided in two groups, control and experimental. The control group was fed on unfermented food mixture whereas experimental group was fed on fermented food mixture. Faecal ash, nitrogen, moisture and coliform count increased while faecal lactobacilli count decreased in mice having diarrhoea. In the experimental group, which was fed on fermented food mixture, normal values were reached within 7 days of feeding but no such changes were observed in control group which was fed on unfermented food mixture. Liver and kidney showed lesions due to E. coli infection were significantly alleviated on feeding of probiotic food mixture.