Lactobacillus strains vary in their ability to interact with human endometrial stromal cells

The placental membranes that surround the fetus during pregnancy were suggested to contain a low abundance microbiota. Specifically, abundance of Lactobacillus, a probiotic and dominant member of the microbiome of the lower reproductive tract, has been shown to correlate with healthy, term pregnancies. We therefore sought to assess the interactions between four different Lactobacillus strains with immortalized decidualized endometrial cells (dT-HESCs), which were used as a model to represent the outermost layer of the placental membranes. Notably, we demonstrated that all four Lactobacillus strains could associate with dT-HESCs in vitro. L. crispatus was significantly more successful (p < 0.00005), with 10.6% of bacteria attaching to the host cells compared to an average of 0.8% for the remaining three strains. The four strains also varied in their ability to form biofilms. Dependent on media type, L. reuteri 6475 formed the strongest biofilms in vitro. To examine the impact on immune responses, levels of total and phosphorylated protein p38, a member of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway, were examined following Lactobacillus association with dT-HESCs. Total levels of p38 were reduced to an average of 44% that of the cells without Lactobacillus (p < 0.05). While a trend towards a reduction in phosphorylated p38 was observed, this difference was not significant (p > 0.05). In addition, association with Lactobacillus did not result in increased host cell death. Collectively, these data suggest that varying types of Lactobacillus can attach to the outermost cells of the placental membranes and that these interactions do not contribute to inflammatory responses or host cell death. To our knowledge this is the first in vitro study to support the ability of Lactobacillus to interact with placental cells, which is important when considering its use as a potential probiotic within the reproductive tract.