Hydrogen Peroxide Production by Lactobacillus Species: Correlation with Susceptibility to the Spermicidal Compound Nonoxynol-9

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Abstract
Facultative anaerobic lactobacilli were recovered from the vaginas of 96.8% of 63 nonpregnant, healthy, premenopausal women.The predominant species were Lactobacillus jensenii, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus casei. Of the women, 74.6% had hydrogen peroxide producing lactobacilli, 22.2% had non-hydrogen peroxide-producing lactobacilli,and 3.2% had no lactobacilli. None of the 68 isolates had catalase activity. Some 68.2% of the isolates were inhibited by concentrations of ⩽1% (wt/vol) of nonoxynol-9 (bactericidal for 73.3% of isolates, bacteriostatic for 26.7%).The remaining 31.8% could growin all concentrations to 25% (wt/vol) of nonoxynol-9. All of the lactobacilli that were sensitive to nonoxynol-9 produced hydrogen peroxide whereas only 3 of 21 resistant strains were hydrogen peroxide producers. A significant correlation (P < .001, x2 test) was found between hydrogen peroxide production and sensitivity to nonoxynol-9. It is suggested that the vaginal flora of spermicide users could be depleted of hydrogen peroxide-producing lactobacilli, possibly increasing susceptibility to urogenital infection.

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