Practical media formulations for rapid growth of <i>Lactobacillus iners</i> and other vaginal bacteria
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT The composition of the vaginal microbiome is closely tied to host health. Bacterial vaginosis (BV), caused by the overgrowth of specific anaerobes (e.g., Gardnerella vaginalis ), is associated with negative health outcomes. A vaginal microbiome dominated by Lactobacillus species is thought to protect against BV. However, the role of Lactobacillus iners is controversial, with evidence suggesting that some strains may not protect against BV while others do. To better characterize L. iners strains, their interactions with vaginal bacteria and human cells need to be investigated in vitro , but this has been impeded by the lack of liquid media that supports rapid L. iners growth. We have developed three liquid media formulations for L. iners growth: Serrador’s Lactobacillus -adapted Iscove’s medium (SLIM), which supports robust L. iners growth; a vaginally adapted version of SLIM (SLIM-V); and a chemically defined version (SLIM-CD). SLIM and SLIM-V improve L. iners growth compared to previously published formulations and also support the growth of other vaginal bacteria, including Lactobacillus crispatus , Lactobacillus jensenii , Lactobacillus gasseri , and Gardnerella vaginalis . SLIM-CD leads to slower growth but may be useful for characterizing L. iners nutrient requirements or metabolite production. Importantly, SLIM and SLIM-V also support the growth of human vaginal epithelial cells, providing a foundation for future co-culture studies. Here, we present the formulations of SLIM, SLIM-V, and SLIM-CD and compare the growth of bacterial strains and human cells in these media. IMPORTANCE Lactobacillus iners is one of the most prevalent members of the vaginal microbiome, but whether it promotes health or leads to bacterial vaginosis is not well understood. We have developed media formulations that lead to improved L. iners growth and support growth of other vaginal bacteria and human vaginal cells. This will allow for investigation of how L. iners interacts with vaginal bacteria and the host, improving our understanding of its role in the vaginal microbiome.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.002 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".