A Probiotic-Based Platform for Simultaneous Mycotoxin Neutralization, Heavy Metal Biosorption, and Biofilm Displacement
Probiotic decontamination
Keywords:
biofilm displacement , heavy metal biosorption , multi-target probiotics , mycotoxin neutralization , probiotic detoxification , sustainable bioremediationAbstract
Background and aim: Mycotoxins, heavy metals, and pathogenic biofilms frequently co-occur in food, feed, and environmental matrices; however, they are almost always investigated and controlled in isolation. The present review examines whether probiotics can instead act as a single, integrated line of defense against all three classes of contaminant, with a focus on lactic acid bacteria of the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii.
Method: A narrative review was conducted, in which structured searches across the major scholarly databases were combined with the targeted screening of specialized journals, and three mechanistically distinct but potentially complementary axes were examined: mycotoxin neutralization through electrostatic and hydrophobic adsorption to the cell envelope and, in certain strains, enzymatic cleavage; heavy metal capture at peptidoglycan-associated carboxyl, hydroxyl, amino, and phosphoryl groups by ion exchange and surface complexation; and biofilm displacement driven by competitive exclusion and the secretion of bacteriocins and organic acids.
Results and conclusion: Across these axes, the available evidence is substantial but uneven, and several constraints recur, including a scarcity of long-term human clinical trials, few designs that assess the three functions simultaneously, and persistent difficulties in standardization and real-world translation. Closing these gaps will require more than incremental single-contaminant studies; it will demand integrated experimental designs, standardized efficacy benchmarks, and trials conducted in the populations that carry the heaviest contamination burden. Framed in this way, probiotics emerge not merely as modulators of gut health but as a biologically sustainable, multi-target strategy for the management of complex, co-occurring contamination.
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