Capsular Polysaccharides of Lactobacillus spp.: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Simple Visualization Methods

Lactobacillus strains can synthesize capsular polysaccharides (CPS), which are important substances in the dairy industry—they exhibit many important technological as well as health-promoting properties. Technological advancements have made it possible to detect bacterial capsules using costly and labor-intensive methods, such as serological reactions, molecular genetic techniques, and electron microscopy. Light microscopy, which is the method of interest in this paper, is one of the most widely accessible and cheapest techniques. CPS may be observed under a light microscope after staining bacterial cells and the background with a basic die and an acidic die, respectively (negative–positive staining), with the capsules remaining transparent. The literature offers many polysaccharide staining methods, but due to the considerable structural diversity of CPS and possible dye-capsule interactions, a suitable staining technique should be carefully selected for each strain. The current study showed that not all methods adequately reveal Lactobacillus CPS, with the most effective ones being those proposed by Hiss and Maneval.