Variation in the response of bovine alveolar lavage cells to diverse species of probiotic bacteria.

Treatments consisted of ten probiotic species and one control treatment. Probiotics and BAL were incubated 1:1 for 2 h at 37 °C and 5% CO2. The cell surface markers measured included CD14, CD205, and CD18, and E. coli bioparticles were used to measure phagocytosis and oxidative burst. Differences were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05 and were noted for percent cells fluorescing and mean fluorescence intensity for CD14 and CD205. Additionally, oxidative burst was different as measured by both percentage of cells fluorescing and mean fluorescence intensity, and phagocytosis differed among species as measured by mean fluorescence intensity. Overall, probiotic species differed in their ability to suppress or increase leukocyte function showing that probiotic bacteria differentially modulate BAL.