Entrapping Living Probiotics into Collagen Scaffolds: A New Class of Biomaterials for Antibiotic-Free Therapy of Bacterial Vaginosis

A new concept of biomaterials for antibiotic-free therapy of bacterial vaginosis (BV) is here proposed. These biomaterials are obtained by entrapping two probiotic biofilms, viz., Lactobacillus fermentum (Lf) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (La) into scaffolds of self-assembled collagen fibers (col). An in-depth characterization and viability assays are performed on the resulting biomaterials. Results demonstrated that the collagen matrix plays a multifold role in improving the probiotic efficacy in a BV-simulated environment: i) it acts as a host to the formation of the probiotic biofilm, ii) it protects live probiotics during storage under harsh conditions, iii) it enhances the metabolic activity of entrapped probiotics thereby restoring the pH of BV-simulated microenvironment, and iv) it enhances the adhesion of probiotics to the simulated vaginal mucosa. These collective properties make these biomaterials as promising candidates for treating BV without antibiotics. In addition, the approach here presented can be adapted for the treatment of other complex microbial infections.