The demand of functional foods is on the rise, and researchers are trying to develop nutritious dairy products by using well-characterized strains of bacteria. In this study, we identified locally isolated strains of Lactobacillus fermentum from Bubalus bubalis (Nilli Ravi buffalo) milk and evaluated their potential as probiotics in food products like fermented milk. Fifteen Lactobacillus strains were initially isolated, and only four strains (NMCC-2, NMCC-14, NMCC-17, and NMCC-27) were examined for morphological and biochemical characterizations due to their ability of gas production in Durham tubes. Moreover, these strains were selected for further probiotic characterizations due to their extreme morphological resemblance with lactic acid bacteria for their antimicrobial activity, enzymatic potential, autoaggregation capability, hydrophobicity, and acid and bile tolerance. All selected isolates showed significant probiotic potential. However, NMCC-14 and NMCC-17 strains showed maximum probiotic potential. The isolates (NMCC-2, NMCC-14, NMCC-17, and NMCC-27) were identified as Lactobacillus fermentum utilizing 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The in vivo safety study of NMCC-14 (dose: 10¹⁰ CFU/day/mice; 21 days, orally) showed no histological dysfunctions in a mouse model. Pathogenic bacterial enzymes reduced the beneficial bacterial load in the host gastrointestinal tract. These results suggest that the NMCC-14 strain is safe and can be potentially used as a probiotic. Moreover, fermented milk was prepared by using the NMCC-14 strain. The results revealed that NMCC-14 strain-based fermented milk had significantly (p < 0.05) higher protein content (4.4 ± 0.06), water-holding capacity (WHC), and dynamic viscosity as compared to non-fermented milk. The results suggest that L. fermentum NMCC-14 is safe and nontoxic; hence, it can be a beneficial supplement to be used for the development of dairy products to be subjected to further clinical testing.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder manifested by decline in memory and mild cognitive impairment leading to dementia. Despite global occurrence of AD, the severity and hence onset of dementia vary among different regions, which was correlated with the customary use of medicinal herbs and exposure level to the causatives. In spite of execution of versatile therapeutic strategies to combat AD and other neurodegenerative diseases, success is only limited to symptomatic treatment. The role of natural remedies remained primitive and irreplaceable in all ages. In some examples, the extracted drugs failed to show comparable results due to lack of micro ingredients. Micro ingredients impart a peerless value to natural remedies which are difficult to isolate and/or determine their precise role during treatment. A variety of plants have been used for memory enhancement and other dementia-related complications since ages. Acetyl choline esterase inhibition, antioxidant potential, neuroprotection, mitochondrial energy restoration, and/or precipitated protein clearance put a vast taxonomic variety into a single group of anti-AD plants. Secondary metabolites derived from these medicinal plants have the potential to treat AD and other brain diseases of common pathology. This review summarizes the potential of taxonomically diverse medicinal plants in the treatment of AD serving as a guide to further exploration.